Douala, Cameroon, 24-25 July 2019: The sub-region’s experts met to review the content and form of the COMIFAC Guide on monitoring forest-related Sustainable Development Goals.

 

 

Specific objectives included:

 

• Reviewing the first version of the COMIFAC Guide on monitoring forest-related SDGs
• Ascertaining the relevance of the five principles and their corresponding guidelines;
• Reviewing arguments made for each principle and guideline:
• Reviewing priority actions recommended, ascertaining the relevance of indicators and sub-indicators, discarding irrelevant ones:
• Ascertaining the relevance of actions identified with a view to creating a conducive environment for monitoring forest-related SDGs;
• Reviewing the content of sheets presenting brief descriptions of indicators and sub-indicators on COMIFAC Guidelines for monitoring forest-related SDGs.

 

 

The opening ceremony was chaired by Mr. Raymond Ndomba Ngoye, the COMIFAC Executive Secretary; In his statement, he recalled that the COMIFAC member countries had all subscribed to the SDGs and had pledged like all the world’s countries to track progress towards achieving them. Given the complex nature of SDG progress reporting, the countries in the sub-region need some guidance in defining actions aimed at ensuring that forests contribute to the SDGs, and also in establishing and running their own progress tracking systems.

 

 

Hence, as part of its missions, COMIFAC has committed itself to facilitating sub-regional capacity building for its member countries in developing forest-related SDG indicators and sub-indicators. The Executive Secretary made a point of thanking the FAO for supporting COMIFAC. He concluded his remarks by urging the participants to contribute actively to the success of the deliberations.

 

 

Below are the meeting’s achievements:

 

• The sheets setting out indicators and sub-indicators for COMIFAC’s guidelines on the forest-related SDGs were amended:
• A roadmap was established for the next steps in the process

 

 

The meeting was held thanks to financial support from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

 

 

It was attended by close to twenty participants representing the FAO, the Central African Forest Commission (COMIFAC), the National Statistics Institute (INS), the Organization for Wildlife Conservation (OCFSA) the World Resource Institute (WRI) the Observatory of Central African Forests (OFAC).

 

 

Purpose of the Project:” To support the development of COMIFAC Guidelines on monitoring forest-related SDGs”

 

The project is the result of an agreement signed on 23 June 2011 between the COMIFAC Executive Secretary and the FAO’s Sub-regional Office for Central Africa in which the FAO pledged to provide technical support to COMIFAC in implementing the project which aims primarily to contribute to the 2030 Sustainable Development Programme, notably through the contribution of Central African forests to the SDGs, by establishing sustainable livelihoods, creating income streams and jobs, fostering agricultural production and building sustainable and climate-resilient production and consumption systems.

 

 

The key expected outcome of the implementation of this project is the “COMIFAC Guide on monitoring forest-related SDGs”.

 

For more information, please contact tvtchuante@comifac.org

 

louisetteyebel@comifac.org