African Forest Forum Regional Webinar on: Enhancing National Forest Governance.

A three day regional webinar on information sharing and experiences on national forest governance as a respond to the Paris Agreement and the contribution of dry land forest resources in building climate resilient communities in some Francophone African Countries namely: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, DR Congo, Mali and Niger will take place from August 30th to September 1st, 2021. In efforts to support African governments in addressing climate change impacts, the African Forest Forum (AFF) has undertaken initiatives to strengthen African forestry stakeholders’ capacity to?respond to the Paris Agreement and related global climate change agreements and recommendations in forestry sector in order to?strengthen national forest governance, among other areas. To this end, AFF conducted studies which revealed that while many African governments have signed, ratified or acceded to forest and climate change related international agreements, their compliance to the provisions of the agreements has been limited. Only a few African countries have taken steps to comply with the agreements. Moreover, the integration of the provisions of the agreements into national policies, plans and activities has not been systematic and the approaches for doing so have been uncoordinated. Consequently, most African governments are yet to fulfill most of their international obligations on forestry and have not realized the benefits thereof. In light of this, African Forest Forum has also focused on strengthening the understanding of measures to increase the resilience to adverse climate change impacts among drylands communities focusing on gums and resins value chains. The development of gums and resins value chains is considered as alternative livelihood option to be promoted as a coping strategy to improve the resilience of climate sensitive populations, especially women and the youth, for their improved wellbeing. In fact, dry forests are endowed with different types of Acacia, Boswellia, Commiphora and other woody species exuding gums and resins (gum Arabic, frankincense, myrrh and hagar); and are also providing many socioeconomic, cultural, medicinal and environmental benefits. However, underdeveloped markets and value chains and lack of financial capital and technical skills are key constraints in improving the gums and resins sector.

In order to contribute?to?filling these knowledge and capacity gaps, AFF in collaboration with the Network for Natural Gums and Resins in Africa (NGARA) undertook studies aimed at analyzing the state of production, trade and marketing?in gums and resins and to assess value chain actors’ capacity in selected producing countries. The findings from these studies will inform the improvement of Africa’s capacity to enhance the gums and resins value chains for improved livelihood outcomes in the context of developing climate change resilience of vulnerable communities, including women and youth, who depend on these resources and commodities for their livelihoods.

The African Forest Forum (AFF) 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.