From July 10 to 11, 2014, the premises of La Falaise Hotel in Douala served as the venue for a regional meeting on the establishment of a regional network of permanent plots for COMIFAC member countries. The gathering was hosted by COMIFAC, through its MRV project. Participants consisted mainly of representatives of the forestry administration, scientific experts, representatives of academic institutions and of institutional partners, both financial and technical.

The meeting aimed to draw up a strategy for the establishment of a regional network of permanent plots for the assessment of carbon stocks in COMIFAC countries.

Regarding the conduct of the workshop, it was built around the following items: an opening ceremony marked by two speeches; one by the technical advisor of the MRV COMIFAC project, Mr. Cléto Ndikumagenge, who expressed satisfaction with various contributions made by partners involved in the network implementation process. The second speech was delivered by the Deputy Executive Secretary of COMIFAC, Mr. Martin Tadoum, who welcomed the participants and gave a brief progress report on projects being implemented by the Institution. He also used the opportunity to appreciate various partners for their efforts in the implementation of various programme and project activities.

Under presentations, the following topics were discussed: "the regional network of permanent plots in the Congo Basin forests: “Background and Objectives", "findings of the COMIFAC-FAO study: Towards a regional network of permanent plots in Congo Basin forests" and the "proposal for a regional network of permanent plots".

 
The group work provided a forum for deep reflection on the location and integration of plots within the network, protocol harmonization, database homogenization and functioning of the network. As usual, a series of recommendations were put ​​to a number of  institutions playing a major role in implementing the programme’s activities.

At the end of the meeting, participants received a word of thanks and congratulations for their lively contributions during the meeting proceedings.

 
For more information, please download the final communiqué below: