The African Forest actors were speaking
in Accra, Ghana, during a five day regional workshop organized by the African
Forest Forum, AFF, in collaboration with Forestry Research Institute of Ghana,
FORIG.
The workshop, which spanned from July 10 to 14, 2017 held under the
theme: “Sharing knowledge and experiences on public and private sector
development in forestry and response to climate change and trans-boundary
forestry issues”.
The African Forest Forum is a pan-African non-governmental organization with
its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya.
It is an association of individuals who share the quest for and
commitment to the sustainable management, use and conservation of the forest
and tree resources of Africa for the socio- economic wellbeing of its people
and for the stability and improvement of its environment.
The purpose of AFF is to provide a platform and create an enabling
environment for independent and objective analysis, advocacy and advice on
relevant policy and technical issues pertaining to achieving sustainable
management, use and conservation of Africa’s forest and tree resources as part
of efforts to reduce poverty, promote gender equality, and economic and social
development.
Through all its programmes and
activities, AFF seeks to promote the empowerment of all marginalized groups
particularly women who continue to be vulnerable to the impacts of climate
change and whose representation, priorities and needs are rarely adequately
addressed in the forestry sector. AFF with funding from the Swiss Agency for
Development and Cooperation (SDC) and Swedish International Development Agency
(Sida) is implementing two projects namely “African Forests, People and Climate
Change” and “Strengthening Sustainable Forest Management in Africa”
respectively.
Both projects seek to generate
and share knowledge and information through partnerships in ways that will
provide inputs into policy options and capacity building efforts in order to
improve forest management in a manner that better addresses poverty eradication
and environmental protection in Africa. Notably, the public and private sector
development in forest products industry and role of African forestry private
sector in response to climate change remains critical.
In this regard more information and
knowledge is needed to enable African governments design policies and
programmes that would support and strengthen linkages and partnership between
public and private sector in forestry.
There is also need for information to guide African countries to promote
integrated and cooperative management of trans-boundary forests, water
resources, pests and disease surveillance and international trade in forest
products. It is on this understanding that AFF commissioned 21 national studies
on public and private sector development in forest products industry in Africa,
covering the following countries: Niger,
Burkina Faso, Senegal, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya,
South Africa, Sudan,
Cameroon, the Democratic
Republic of Congo, Gabon, Uganda, Mozambique,
Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe,
Madagascar, Rwanda, Chad, Côte
d’Ivoire, and the Republic of Congo. The
AFF workshop brought together over 80 participants drawn from private and public
forest sector; governments, non-governmental organizations, research,
academia, media institutions, youth and women based
organizations on forestry and climate change in sub-Saharan Africa.
By TANDONG CALISTUS JONG
in Accra, Ghana
