Objectives
The three day workshop aims to promote dialogue and sharing experiences and knowledge in a multi-stakeholder-setting in order to explore synergies between forest relevant regulatory processes and market based voluntary standard initiatives in the Central African Region. Expert inputs and discussion will focus on three main issues currently under debate:

DAY 1, 29th Sep 2010:
Day one will take a look at the linkages between forest certification and Land use planning & transboundary forest conservation. Inputs and discussion will focus on the interrelations of standard initiatives and inter-sectoral land use planning in the context of biodiversity protection and REDD+.

DAY 2, 30th Sep 2010: 
Day two deals with the current debate on the FLEGT process and voluntary standards
as instruments to reduce illegal logging and trade. It will be discussed how to utilize synergies between forest certification systems and  the EU Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action plan and how  the new legislation of the US and EU to reduce illegal logging and trade will impact forest certification systems to verify sustainable forest management and supply chains .

DAY 3, 1st Oct 2010:
The third day will focus on standards as a promoter of sustainable development and trade and will describe the power of markets by highlighting current trends towards a green economy, the relevance of standard systems and linkages with public procurement policies.

The event will be hosted by the Commission des Forêts d’Afrique Centrale (COMIFAC) and is organized by Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).The workshop will be held in French with simultaneous translation into English.An invitation, tentative programme and logistic information on the event will be sent out shortly. For further information please directly contact:
• Peter Schauerte, GTZ Cameroon (Peter.Schauerte@gtz.de) or
• Jenny Rust, GTZ HQ Germany (Jenny.Rust@gtz.de)
• Valery Tchuanté, COMIFAC Executive Secretariat (tvtchuante@yahoo.fr)

Participants
The workshop will be multistakeholder-based. Participants are invited from governmental and non-governmental institutions, the private sector and forest-relevant standards initiatives…

Venue: Cercle de Kinshasa