The workshop which took place in Libreville from 24 to 25 September 2013 by CEFDHAC-Gabon, aimed to revamp the Gabon National CEFDHAC Forum and provide information on climate change. The event was held as part of the support project to "the participation of civil society in the sustainable management of forest ecosystems through consultation platforms in landscapes, stakeholder networks, national and sub-regional fora of the CEFDHAC project "and to" the promotion of inclusive participation and representation of stakeholder groups in REDD +discussions in the Congo Basin ", implemented by IUCN.

Chaired by Mr. Emmanuel BAYANI NGOYI, the meeting was built around three main items and attracted about 35 participants from National Civil Society organizations, administrations in charge of sustainable management of forest ecosystems and international organizations (IUCN, CARPE).

The speeches delivered during the opening ceremony provided participants with an overview of the issues at hand as well as outcomes expected from the workshop. These remarks were made respectively by Edwige EYANG EFFA, President of the Gabon National CEFDHAC Forum, Chantal WANDJA, the representative of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Emmanuel BAYANI NGOYI, the representative of the National Coordinating body of the Central African Forests Commission (COMIFAC)-Gabon. The opening ceremony set the stage for the rest of the workshop, which continued with plenary sessions.

The workshop saw a total of four discussion sessions on relevant topics, namely:

• session 1, focused on the current state of the national Forum and presentation of basic texts;
• session 2 concentrated on the design of an operational action plan;
• session 3 dealt with information on climate change and REDD initiatives at regional level;
• session 4 was devoted to the review and beefing up of drafts of the national Forum’s Statutes and Rules of Procedure. 

At the end of the workshop, lively contributions from partners resulted in praiseworthy results   with the main ones being the following:

• a draft statutes and rules of procedure approved;
• a three-year action plan validated;
• a declaration on the REDD+ process;
• a map drawn, identifying stakeholders active in the area of climate change and the REDD+ process;
• a list of needs in the area of communication and capacity building to close the information gap on REDD+ and climate change, drawn up,
• A road map elaborated.

Furthermore, the participants formulated recommendations to enhance the forum’s efficiency.

To the bureau of the National Forum, the participants strongly recommended the following actions: finalize and make the Operational Action Plan available to members, make the CEFDHAC Convergence Plan available to members, develop the directory of potential financial partners and take steps to get them involved in certain activities under the National Forum’s operational action plan, and finalize the Forum’s draft Statutes and Rules of Procedure. And to IUCN and other partners: assist the Gabon National CEFDHAC Forum in organizing a Constituent General Assembly to adopt the basic texts.

With these recommendations, the forum ended with the complete satisfaction of the organisers and participants who are already envisioning a bright future for the Gabon National CEFDHAC forum.

The proceedings of this workshop may be viewed at:

Final communiqué of the workshop

Declaration of the Gabon national CEFDHAC Forum on REDD+

List of meeting participants

Gabon-CEFDHAC-Communique-final.pdf (213.3 Ko)

Gabon-CEFDHAC-Declaration.pdf (145.3 Ko)

Gabon-CEFDHAC-Liste-Participation.pdf (2.6 Mo)