COMIFAC’s Forest Governance Meeting Holds in Douala- Cameroon

By Elias Ntungwe Ngalame

In a bid to putting in place a roadmap to make forest governance in the Central African region more appropriate,forest experts grouped in different themes are meeting in Douala- Cameroon to participate in different adhoc committees on the subject.  The meeting organized by the executive secretary of COMIFAC with the support of CEEAC,  GIZ/COMIFAC project, the World Bank and JICA held on July 29-30, 2014.

The objective of the Douala meeting according to the organizers is the better empower the experts to permit them follow a common platform and programme on issues of forest governance.Boosting of the harmonization of contributions to the implementation of COMIFAC Convergence Plan, facilitating innovative results, sharing of CBFP and her partners’ priority actions, adoption of new strong recommendations in order to re-boost, among others, COMIFAC forest governance action were among the major objectives.

 It should be recalled that in February 2014, the 10th Partners’ Meeting of the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP) held  in Cameroon under the coordination of CBFP Facilitator and the patronage of His Excellency José Endundo Bononge, Minister for the Environment, Conservation of Nature et Tourism of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Minister for Forestry and Wildlife of Cameroon, His Excellency Ngole Philip Ngwese and the Minister for the Environment, the Protection of Nature and Sustainable development of Cameroon, His Excellency Hele Pierre.It was organized by the CBFP Facilitation, with the financial support of the Government of Canada.

The 10^th CBFP Partners’ Meeting was presided over by the CBFP Facilitator, Mr. Gaston Grenier and was for the CBFP partners an occasion to discuss the state of progress of the 2010-2012 road map of the CBFP Facilitation, to help in the harmonization of contributions to the implementation of COMIFAC Convergence Plan and to review and/or define the priority actions of the CBFP and her Facilitation based on opportunities and constraints.

The meeting was attended by 220 participants representing the CBFP partners. Apart from the representatives of the Presidency, the Executive Secretariat, COMIFAC national coordinations and climate focal points, the meeting gathered the representatives of CEFDHAC network (REJEFAC, REFADD, REPAR, RIFFEAC, REPALEAC/RACOPY), representatives of administrations, sub-regional institutions, representatives of CSOs, representatives of technical and financial partners and representatives of the private sector.

PARTICIPANTS AT THE EXPERTS MEETING IN DOUALA.