West and Central Africa

Sahelian regional workshop on “Moving beyond Forestry laws” through collective learning and action

Bamako 4-8 May 2009

Introduction & Programme

Antoine Kalinganire & Thomas Yatich

West and Central Africa

Why Forestry laws and Collective Action?

• Disconnects between what the law says and practice exist

• Affect access, use and management of local tree species yet are main sources of livelihood

• Legal provisions have caused more harm that balancing socio-economic and ecological objectives

• There have been successful experiences (isolated) of involving communities in the Sahel, but not well replicated

• Question is why? Answer could lie in the lack of knowledge sharing, no framework for sharing knowledge across Sahelian countries, lack of political will, Governments are not being aware of this situation and science results have not been used to change our policies

• Workshop will explore all these issues with the aim to promote collective learning and action at different levels

West and Central Africa

What do we aim to achieve?

Goal of the workshop:

• Provide a platform to build case for and explore approaches for moving beyond forestry laws through using research results to review forestry laws and adopt co-management for improved natural resource management; and

• To forge a broader collaborative framework for promoting collective learning and action.

West and Central Africa

Specific objectives

• Provide a forum for Sahelian governments with partners to share knowledge, lessons and experiences based on research in the state of forestry governance across different Sahelian countries

• Start off processes for reviewing or building on ongoing review initiatives of the forestry laws through enhancing dialogue and negotiations between local communities and foresters

• Identify best practices, methodologies and approaches to enhance evolution, recognition, formulation, adoption and integration of bylaws and/or local conventions into statutory texts for improved management of forests and agroforests

West and Central Africa

Specific objectives (cont’d)

• Share experiences on how to integrate community rights, including gender, with decentralization in Sahelian countries

• Work towards the development of a knowledge network for sharing lessons and experiences among communities and foresters across Sahelian countries

• Develop broader collaborative research in the regional as a follow-up of the workshop

West and Central Africa

Expected outputs

• Tools and approaches for forestry laws review (synthesized from the presentations and group discussions)

• A roadmap for reviews of the forestry laws and collective action among Sahelian countries

• A framework for broader collaborative research work among Sahelian countries and research institutes and/or organizations; and

• A concept note to follow-up on the broader collaborative research work as well as advance the workshop decisions

• Workshop proceedings and a special issue of a journal or a book

• A policy brief for circulation among policy shapers and decision makers

West and Central Africa

Topics to be discussed

• State of forestry governance, gender, community rights and decentralization

• Negotiation support system • Knowledge to action • Formulation and integration of bylaws • Community of practice

West and Central Africa

Topics to be discussed(Cont’d)• Have we captured your expectations? • Any issues you would like covered?

West and Central Africa

The Programme• The Approach

– Presentations on different themes (Sessions 5) – Questions and answers on specific topics presented – Working Group Sessions – Plenary Discussions – Film presentations– Field trip– Synthesis and restitution in the plenary (Day 5)

• Roles and responsibilities– Presentations: Session Chair & Rapporteur (key messages from

presentations to be shared with the Working Group Chair for session report)

– Questions-based Group Discussions Chair & Rapporteur (Feed-back from Group discussions

– Working Groups Sessions Chair & Rapporteur (Key points from presentations & plenary discussions; recap next day)

– Workshop Committee Report (daily)– Synthesis and restitution (small group)

• Please help setting up key rules and procedures for the workshop?

West and Central Africa

Workshop Rules• Be on-time (08:30), 500Fcfa fine for late comers!• Mobile phones on ‘Silent Mode’• Active participation and mutual respect • Share your experiences on different workshop themes• Warning: Please drink enough water -45°C!

• Key people to contact:– Ibrahim (IT)– Rokia (Secretariat, visas, flights etc)– Sory & Yacine (Finance, hotel payments etc) – Emergency call: (223) 7603 6370

To all, thank you, for finding time out of your busy schedules to attend

West and Central Africa

Participants presentation

Personal details Personal details

Professional details: formation, experiences, functions, Professional details: formation, experiences, functions, institution.institution.

Workshop expectations Workshop expectations --one key idea (read out from a one key idea (read out from a card for filled handed during participantscard for filled handed during participants’’ registration)registration)

West and Central Africa

Thank you!