(Agenda items 5, 6 and 7)
18. To facilitate the discussions, three case studies had been commissioned by FAO to cover the situation, trends and needs in this respect in Western, Eastern and Southern dry-zone Africa (respectively covering countries from the CILSS, IGADD and SADC sub-regions) and were presented by their authors at the meeting. These case studies1/, elaborated by African experts, review on-going work in the light of possible adaptation of already identified criteria and indicators of sustainable forest management to the environmental conditions, socio-economic needs and institutional possibilities of countries in the region. Based on consultation with colleagues in the countries covered of their respective sub-region, the authors of the case studies also proposed a strategy and timetable for the promotion of action at regional, eco-regional and national levels aiming at identifying and testing common criteria and sets of regionally applicable indicators, with due consideration to the assessment of the relevance of these to environmental, social and economic conditions in the countries in the region and to the contribution of their application to the overall management of dry-zone forests and woodlands. Mr. Vantomme of FAO presented Part II of the FAO/UNEP Secretariat Note, which included a synthesis of the above case studies (see Annex 3). Finally Mr. Bellefontaine, FAO resource person, presented the preliminary findings of a joint FAO-SAREC global study on the status of tropical dry-zone forest management.
1/
- "Survey of Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management in Tropical Dry Africa, Sub-Saharan West Africa Zone - CILSS Region" by Mounkaila Goumandakoye.
- "Criteria and Indicators of Sustainable Forest Management, Southern Africa Zone (SADC)" by Samuel Chipompha.- "A Review of Criteria and Indicators of Sustainable Forest Management, Sub-Saharan East African Zone IGADD Countries", by Jeff Odera.
Available from the Forest Resources Division, Forestry Department, FAO (English and French).
19. All papers generated interesting discussions on forest management in dry-zone Africa and on the process of developing appropriate criteria and indicators for the region. The participants agreed that this meeting was the first step of a process in the formulation and application of criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management at the national level in countries of sub-Saharan dry-zone Africa.
20. The participants also agreed that the following principles and guidelines should be taken into account in this process:
- For the concerned countries, the formulation and application of criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management at the national level was a useful tool to assess, monitor and improve the management of their forest resources.- At the international level it was particularly important that this part of Africa developed its own criteria and indicators reflecting its specific needs and capacities.
- The prioritization and assigning of hierarchy among the agreed criteria and among indicators in each criterion should be considered at a later stage as, at present, equal importance had been given to all criteria and to all indicators.
- The indicators agreed on by the meeting and presented below in section VII were to be considered of a generic character, without precise definition at this stage of the corresponding quantitative and/or descriptive parameters. The parameters would however have to be defined in the successive stages of the formulation and application process at the regional, sub-regional and national levels. Naturally this process would be a dynamic one which would adjust progressively to conditions prevailing in each country and subregion.
- The finally agreed parameters would have to be defined without ambiguity. The cost of the assessment and monitoring of the parameters should be acceptable to the national institutions involved; and in relation to the expected benefits from the management of the national forest estate.
- The estimates subsequently provided by the countries for the agreed parameters would have to be complemented by information on the methodology and the means used in obtaining them.
21. The meeting recommended that FAO and UNEP bring to the attention, as soon as possible, the recommendations and conclusions of the meeting to their regional intergovernmental bodies for their review and possible endorsement, and particularly at the 10th Session of the African Forestry and Wildlife Commission and at the Sixth Session of the African Ministerial Conference on Environment.
22. The meeting also recommended that FAO and UNEP inform the CILSS and IGADD Secretariats and the Forestry Sector Technical Coordination Unit of SADC of its conclusions and recommendations in order for them to take appropriate action to pursue the process at sub-regional level for the formulation of criteria and indicators for Sustainable Forest Management.
23. The meeting recommended that each country be involved in the internalization of the process and that this process be promoted simultaneously at regional, sub-regional and national levels.
24. The meeting underlined the importance of an effective coordination in this field among the three sub-regional organizations.
25. The meeting recommended that the process be actively pursued at regional, sub-regional and national levels in order to be taken into account in the programme of work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests of the Commission on Sustainable Development.
26. The meeting recommended that the criteria agreed on at regional, sub-regional and national levels be the same and that for each criterion, indicators be added at the sub-regional and national levels to those adopted at the regional level to reflect the specific conditions of the sub-regions and countries concerned.
27. The meeting further recommended that the process identifies first a minimum set of simple indicators which can be later on complemented and refined gradually on the basis of the experience obtained through testing and application.
28. The meeting finally recommended that every effort be made by all concerned to promote the exchange of information and experience with the relevant on-going processes in this field, through, in particular, the participation of their experts in meetings organized within the framework of this process; and that the various stakeholders, including NGOs and the private sector, be involved at the various levels and in the various phases of this process, in a participatory and transparent manner.
