In 2003, the African Forest Research Network at the African Academy of Sciences, with the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, started implementing a two-year project on “Lessons Learnt on Sustainable Forest Management in Africa” (SFMI) funded by the Swedish International Development Agency, Sida. The project aimed at identifying positive and negative lessons from forest activities, programmes and projects that had been implemented in Africa since most countries became independent in some 40+ years since the project was initiated. It also sought to enrich its findings through analysing the relevance to Africa of lessons from Latin America, Asia and Sweden.
During the discussions of the project outputs in workshops, a very substantial number of recommendations, ideas and proposals for action emerged. In addition, several informal net-works and many new, vibrant individual and institutional contacts were created among the African forest constituency as a result of the two and a half years long and very interactive project process.
One of the recommendations was to create an African Forest Forum that can sustain the momentum of sound analysis, advice, and advocacy to backstop African leaders in decisions concerning the management of national forest resources and in various global debates.
The concept of an African Forest Forum was presented to and discussed at various fora as presented below, in a second phase of the project (SFMII) that was implemented during 2006-2008.
| Place and Date | Event / Forum | No. of People |
|---|---|---|
| Nairobi, Kenya July 6–7, 2006 |
SFM II Project Steering Committee | 16 |
| Addis Ababa, Ethiopia August 21–23, 2006 |
Workshop on “Lessons learnt and way forward with SFM in Eastern Africa” | 35 |
| Arusha, Tanzania September 14–15, 2006 |
First East African Consultative Forum on Forests | 29 |
| Nairobi, Kenya October 2–7, 2006 |
Workshop on “Improving teaching material for forestry education” | 14 |
| Douala, Cameroon November 6–8, 2006 |
Workshop on “Lessons learnt and way forward with SFM in Central and West Africa” | 34 |
| Bata, Equatorial Guinea November 27–28, 2006 |
“Réunion des points focaux du Forum des Nations Unies sur les Forêts (FNUF) de l’espace COMIFAC préparatoire à la réunion de New York en Décembre” | 19 |
| Accra, Ghana November 28–30, 2006 |
15th session of the African Forestry and Wildlife Commission – First Intersessional Meeting of the Bureau | 17 |
| New York, USA April 25, 2007 |
Side event on the African Forest Forum during UNFF 7 Session | 34 |
| Lusaka, Zambia May 2–4, 2007 |
Workshop on “Lessons learnt and way forward with SFM in Southern Africa” | 26 |
| Stockholm / Umea, Sweden May 21–25, 2007 |
Seminar on “African-Nordic Collaboration on SFM” and presentations at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences | 75 |
| Bamako, Mali November 14–16, 2007 |
Workshop on “Lessons learnt and way forward with sustainable forest management in the Sahel” | 32 |
The Forum idea and concept note on the establishment of an African Forestry Forum (AFF) were discussed by about 320 people in the fora indicated in these meetings. Further, the concept note was circulated electronically to another 192 stakeholders of the forestry sector for discussion. The Forum idea, Charter, Guidelines, AFF headquarters, among other issues, were discussed, between July 2006 and November 2007, by more than 500 people in workshops/meetings and electronically. There was an overwhelming support for the establishment of the Forum in the responses to these consultations, as well as by the big number of AFF members recruited in a very short period.
The Charter provided for the Steering Committee (SC) of the SFM II project to facilitate the establishment of the African Forest Forum. At its second meeting on January 25-26, 2007, the SC members, in their capacities as Founder Members of AFF, held their first meeting on January 26, 2007, and formally established the African Forest Forum, as provided for in the Charter.
The registration of the Forum in Kenya required re-working all the Charter and sections of the Guidelines into a Constitution to meet the NGO registration requirements. The two principal documents of the Forum are therefore the Constitution and Guidelines for Administration and Financial Operations. AFF was registered as an independent, not–for profit international non-governmental organisation in Kenya on December 06, 2007.
The Constitution provided for the Founder Members to put in place the first Governing Council (GC) of the AFF, its Chair and Vice-Chair. The second meeting of the Founder Members was held on July 25, 2007 and nominated members to the GC of the Forum. The third meeting of Founder Members, held on October 15, 2007, nominated the Chair and Vice Chair and more members to the GC. The GC then met for the first time on October 15-16, 2007, and this marked the commencement of the operations of the Forum, as provided for in the Constitution. At this meeting, the GC appointed the first Executive Secretary of the Forum, and constituted the Executive Committee (EC), which met for the first time on October 16, 2007.
Founder Members of the African Forest Forum (2006)
Back Row: Michel Laverdière (Canada-FAO), Bjorn Lundgren (Sweden-KSLA), Macarthy Oyebo (Nigeria-FFD), Frank Kufakwandi (Zambia-AfDB)
Middle Row: Stephen Agong (Kenya-AAS), Sébastien Malélé Mbala (DRC-DGF), Iba Kone (Côte d’Ivoire-AFORNET), Afsa Kemitale (Uganda-UNFF), Edouard Bonkoungou (Burkina Faso-NTI)
Front Row: Alice Kaudia (Kenya-IUCN), Godwin Kowero (Tanzania-SFM II), Lidia Brito (Mozambique-UEM), Fred Owino (Kenya-FORIN), Linda Mossop-Rousseau (S. Africa-SAFCOL), August Temu (Tanzania-ICRAF)
Missing: Foday Bojang (Gambia-AUC)