The Cameroon Ministry of Forests and Ministry of Finance will participate in a workshop about verification of legal timber, co-hosted by CIFOR
From 9 to 11 July, CIFOR will assist in a workshop for forestry officials in Cameroon, "Capacity Building on Forest Activities Control". The workshop - organized in conjunction with the World Resources Institute (WRI), German Cooperation (GTZ), the Independent Observer for forest operations (REM) and the Cameroonian Ministry of Forests (MINFOF) - will train and update staff of MINFOF and the Ministry of Finance (MINFI) on techniques to verify and control forestry activities.
The workshop will draw on lessons learnt from VERIFOR, a project about verification of legal timber, that is carried out by CIFOR in Central Africa. The training will also see participants share on-going experiences with the implementation of forest management plans.
Forest management is rapidly evolving. As the world increasingly recognizes the many values of forests - ecological, social, economic - new tools, approaches and regulations are being implemented. As a frontrunner in establishing forest management plans in Central Africa, Cameroon is eager to keep up with methods to control illegal forest activities. It is for example one of the first African countries to negotiate an agreement with the EU to ensure that only legally harvested timber is entering the European market.
The workshop will consist of a series of descriptive and practical modules on timber production, processing, transport, management, taxation, and mapping, as well as on the use of available data and techniques for verification and control. Cameroon based CIFOR researchers Paolo Cerutti and Samuel Assembe developed, in collaboration with MINFOF and MINFI, the modules on forest products' processing and taxation. These are based on CIFOR's long-term experience in the region with forest governance and timber processing.
"As researchers, we can make a good link between what's happening on the ground and policy discussions" says Cerutti. "This workshop is a vehicle to bring our in-depth field-level knowledge to bear on policy questions."
One of the documents that will be distributed during the workshop is a case study, titled "Verification in the Forest Sector in Cameroon", which looks at Cameroon's experiences with timber verification. The case study was carried out by CIFOR researchers in the framework of the EU-sponsored VERIFOR project.
By providing policymakers with credible, timely policy advice, CIFOR seeks to make a difference in the lives of the millions of forest dependent people.
The recent Forest Day, Central Africa, where issues about Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) were discussed, demonstrated that CIFOR's work on forest governance in the region is greatly appreciated by stakeholders,
The workshop will take place from 9 to 11 July at the Seme Beach Hotel in Limbe, Cameroon, and will involve around 20 government officials. The organizers would like to see the training become institutionalized with one or more national organizations, such as the Forestry School in Mbalmayo.