From 21 to 23 March, in the conference hall of the Pestana hotel in Sao Tome, an important meeting on awareness, training and planning of the MRV projects was held, as part of the implementation of the region-wide monitoring and “measuring, reporting and verification” system project.

The meeting which was jointly organized by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), brought together 44 stakeholders in the implementation of REDD+ in Sao Tome & Principe, namely: the MRV project team of COMIFAC/FAO, representatives of Ministries in charge of Agriculture, fisheries and rural development, Public Works, Infrastructure and natural resources, Trade, Industry and Tourism, district farmers’ federations, as well as delegations from various regions including the autonomous region of Principe.

The workshop was assigned three main objectives, namely:

♦ To disseminate information on the project to various stakeholders;

♦ To inform on REDD+, the R-PP drafting process and identify the first elements which could go into the drafting of this document;

♦ To prepare the roadmap for the drafting of the Sao & Principe and R-PP and for the implementation of the MRV project in this country.

Under the patronage of the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development, Mr Antonio Dias, the workshop served toharmonize the participants’ understanding of the REDD+ process, identify institutions engaged in the REDD+ process and in constructing the SNSF, complete the list of data on forest inventories and remote sensing, collectively develop a roadmap of priority actions of the project, identify needs in the area of technical and financial assistance for its implementation and define the R-PP drafting methodology.

Before parting, the delegates formulated a number of recommendations to ensure efficient MRV implementation in their country, namely:

♦ All potential stakeholders must be engaged in the REDD+ process as the process is not only relevant to government agencies but also to non-state institutions, civil society and even the private sector. Prior large scale sensitisation would be necessary.

♦ Research institutions should be included in the REDD+ process;

♦ The Forest Department should see to the official establishment of the working group on the REDD+ process as well as working groups on forest inventories and remote sensing;

♦ TheForest Department must capitalize data from past inventories that are scattered across various institutions;

♦ Capacity building must be conducted throughout the REDD+ process. This capacity building will be carried out through well defined/designed technical training courses (notably training on forest inventory data processing and processing of satellite imagery). Needs assessment must be conducted in the near term. Training needed should be identified in detail during this assessment.

Participants parted on this note of recommendations, in hopes of seeing the launch of the process in their country.

For more information, kindly download the Final Communiqué (French)