The African Forest Forum (AFF) has received a grant from Sida for a five year project on Strengthening sustainable forest management in Africa. The overall objective of the project is to generate and share knowledge and information through partnerships in ways that provide inputs into policy options and capacity building for improved forest management that better address poverty eradication and environmental protection in Africa.
In order to operationalize this objective the project will:
facilitate the emergence of a strong partnership platform through which stakeholders identify challenges related to sustainable management of forest and tree resources and co-create solutions;
catalyse efforts to enhance sustainable management practices with the potential to improve resilience of forests and trees against adverse effects of climate change;
facilitate formulation and harmonization of evidence-based policies, regulations and governance mechanisms in a bid to strengthen public and private institutions for effective management of SFM and transparent trade;
strengthen the capacity of institutions and individuals involved in forestry related initiatives in order to achieve forest compatible development;
facilitate collation, synthesis and provision of access to, and exchange and management of critical information and knowledge demanded by stakeholders in African forestry;
strengthen African participation in relevant regional and international debates and negotiations. This is intended to enhance informed adoption and implementation of international and regional forest and related agreements among African countries.
To realize its objectives the project is structured into six components all of which are inter-related. They are:
1) Partnership platform for catalysing institutional change;
2) Knowledge management and brokerage for enhanced management of forest resources in Africa;
3) Forest and tree resources management for enhanced human livelihoods;
4) Forestry policy, regulation, governance and trade in forest and tree products;
5) Strengthening Africas capacity for sustainable management and use of forest and tree resources;
6) Supporting Africas engagement in global and regional forestry processes and implementation of agreements.