1. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
The Sub-Regional Workshop for West African Countries on "Data Collection and Analysis for Sustainable Forest Management in ACP Countries - Linking National and International Efforts" and "Forestry Outlook Study for Africa - FOSA" was held in Yamoussoukro, Côte d'Ivoire, from 13 to 18 December 1999. The event was organized by FAO with the financial support of the EC through the EC-FAO Partnership Programme (Tropical Forestry Budget Line B7-6201/97-15/VIII/FOR - Project GCP/INT/679/EC). The event assembled 41 participants from 15 countries of West Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra-Leone and Togo. Also attended the workshop: a representative from WWF, Conservation International (CI), the African Academy of Sciences, the African Development Bank and FAO.
This report provides the proceedings of the workshop, including an overview of the Project, the workshop objectives and conditions, conclusions and lessons learnt from this.
This EC-FAO Partnership Project aims to promote sustainable management of trees and forests in the tropics, founded on policies that integrate and balance relevant economic, environmental and social aspects of forestry. It aims to strengthen national capacity to collect and compile reliable and up-to-date information on forestry and to analyse the forest sector. Specifically this Project shall:
_ improve the coverage, timeliness and quality of data concerning forestry, including extending data compilation to include nationally available items, which are of importance for sustainable forest management, but not yet aggregated and readily available on a regional and global scale;
_ develop a framework for collecting and disseminating at national level, essential data which are not yet commonly available; and
_ conduct regional forestry sector outlook studies and formulate appropriate policies.
_ organize regional workshops to review and assess the availability, accuracy and completeness of current statistics;
_ invite and attract a broad based review and discussion in each region drawing from the public and private sector with the explicit participation of both local and regional non-governmental organisations;
_ focus the workshops on a review of the existing situation and invite the meetings to suggest viable options for the collection and use of data;
_ plan for at least four regional workshops: IGAD, SADC, Congo Basin, ECOWAS, Caribbean;
_ involve and engage regional institutions as the host of the workshop and partners in the analysis.
Regional assessments drawn on national reports. These will be conducted as workshops and will validate the compiled statistics and improve the institutional capacity to collect and disseminate information. It is expected to have national and regional consultants contributing and amending country reports. As a result, the best available information from the public, private and non-governmental sectors will be compiled.
The objectives of the workshop are:
_ promote data acquisition by individual countries to provide information for sustainable forest management at the national level which can also be used for planning and identification of trends regionally and internationally;
_ review country data and develop procedures to strengthen country data and link it to international data; provide information and training on standardized international definitions and tabular formats for forestry sector data;
_ contribute to country capacity for the collection and effective use of forestry sector data;
_ develop opportunities for further cooperation between the participating countries, including establishment of a network of correspondents; and
_ develop processes to prepare individual country and regional forestry outlook study reports.
Forestry data can be logically divided into data concerning forest resources and forest products. Additional objectives specific to these two sectors include:
For forest products:
_ Review of classification and definition of products, coverage and units of measurement with particular reference to the products and practices in the selected countries;
_ discussion of standards and methodologies for data collection and validation;
_ discussion and demonstration of the use of information technology; and
_ review of country data on production and prices of forest products, industry capacity, and trade, including production of fuelwood and forest products other than wood.
For forest resources:
_ Review of classification, definition, and structure of forest resources data;
_ discussion on strategies and methodologies for data collection, processing and dissemination;
_ review and validation of FAO and national data; and
_ discussion of problems, constraints, and capacity needs.
1.4 Implementing processes for the workshops
_ FAO provides to the participants a working draft of forestry sector data definitions and tabular formats;
_ FAO provides to each country existing data for review in advance of the workshop; this consist of filled-out tables, country briefs, and data sources and references from the various FAO programmes which collect and use this data;
_ the countries verify, update and provide missing data in preparation for the meeting;
_ individual countries and FAO work together to select participants who can best contribute to the objectives of the workshop; the Project will pay travel and DSA for selected participants.
Following the workshop, individual country data will be finalized; in-country assistance by FAO staff or consultants provide, as appropriate, assistance in finalizing the data or helping to develop plans and capacity for data acquisition and compilation. Individual and regional outlook study reports will be prepared based on country data and other formation.
1.4 Locations, timing, and participating countries
Location |
Nakuru |
Mutare |
Lambaréné |
Yamoussoukro |
Schedule |
12 -16/10/98 |
30/11 - 04/12/98 |
27/09 - 02/10/99 |
13 - 18/12/99 |
Participating countries |
IGAD (7 pays) Eritrea |
SADC -FSTCU |
Congo basin (10 pays) |
ECOWAS (15 pays) |
Local counterpart |
_ Forestry Commission/Kenya _ UNEP |
_ Forestry Commission/Zimbabwe _ SADEC-FSTCU |
_ Dép. forêts du Gabon _ BAfD _ ADIE-REIMP _ OBA - ATO |
_ Dép. forêts de la Côte d'Ivoire _ BAfD |
