On-going AFF projects and their main objectives

Since its founding in 2007, the African Forest Forum (AFF) has worked closely with several UN bodies, governments at all levels, intergovernmental organizations like the African Union Commission (AUC), civil society and private sector organizations to drive a better understanding of the potential roles that forests, and forestry can play in addressing many current development and environmental issues such as climate change, biodiversity loss and livelihood.

With over 3,000 members from all over the continent and beyond, AFF has worked hard to provide a bridge between science-based knowledge and strong policies that support the sustainable management and wise use of these resources for the benefit of future generations. It has strengthened the capacity of public and private forest institutions for sustained development outcomes in the sector and delivered on related issues in the context of climate change.

Projects and activities funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Swedish International Development Cooperation (Sida) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) have shaped national institutions and policies to cultivate shifts in perceptions, priorities, values, capacities, and skills that bear on forestry and related decisions and practices.

Below is a list of AFF’s on-going projects and their main objectives

Project Objectives
Transforming the African Forest Forum...
  • Improve management of forest biodiversity to secure ecosystem goods and services.
  • Identify and assess key sustainability determinants for tree-based energy options.
  • Enhance forest science knowledge sharing through traditional and new approaches.
  • Transform AFF for sustainability.
Strengthening REDD+ implementation in Africa... To strengthen capacities and knowledge via UN-REDD expertise and AFF’s network, fostering policy integration of REDD+.
Strengthening institutional arrangements for intra-African timber trade To co-develop strategies for upscaling intra-African timber use while avoiding trade deviation due to EUDR.
Facilitating advocacy for smallholders in Swiss policy – with University of Bern To identify enabling mechanisms to cushion EUDR’s impact on smallholders in producer countries.
Provision of technical support within the DSL-IP REM SA cluster To facilitate multi-actor collaboration, synergies, and joint learning for accelerated scaling of impacts.
Fair business development for NTFPs – Tamarindus in Kenya Focuses on Tamarindus indica to develop sustainable, poverty-reducing business models in Sub-Saharan Africa.
AfricanYouth4Forests – From Science to Youth Action Empowers African youth (18–30) to act on environmental goals using traditional and modern tools for forestry.