This study presents the results of an investigation on the role that forests and trees can play in helping African societies adapt to climate change and mitigate greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. In this regard, it seeks to strengthen and further develop the forest – climate nexus, a key issue for Africa’s future development. The study was framed around eight sub-study areas and carried out through visits to five sampled Francophone African countries based on geographical location and forest type. They include: Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar and Cameroon. Respondents were drawn from six institutional groups, namely; government, intergovernmental organisations, international organisations, research organizations and agencies, civil society organisations, and the private forestry sector. The study revealed that there are three key determinants for the wider adoption of adaptation and mitigation interventions. They revolve around fiscal, technological and governance factors. Conditions for effective implementation of adaptation and mitigation interventions meanwhile were noted to revolve around organisation, legal and regulatory aspects, government coordination and a competent extension service. These elements surfaced in all the sub-studies of this investigation, prompting policy related proposals around fiscal, institutional and legal/regulatory benchmarks. Pertinent among others, of such open-ended benchmarks, are proposals for: promotion of multi-sectorial and multi-stakeholder platforms upstream, and forums downstream, as high impact governance pathways, facilitated by federating government bodies for transparent planning, sharing of experiences and harmonization of programs; creation and support of a carbon knowledgeable extension service to sensitize on carbon across the forestry, agriculture and energy divide, as well as; a national carbon agency to regulate and supervise schemes that engage carbon development, accounting and marketing.

Climate change is a global challenge that requires global solutions as GHG emissions have the same impact on the atmosphere affecting everyone. In this regard, action by one country to reduce emissions will do little to slow global warming unless other countries also act accordingly. This means that effective strategies require commitment and action by all major emitting countries as human activities are contributing to climate change, primarily by releasing large amounts of CO2 and other GHGs into the atmosphere. The initial climate change dialogues were mainly at global level, but in recent times there have been many discussions on mitigation and adaptation that have been initiated at regional and national levels. In 1992, countries joined an international treaty called the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), to jointly consider activities needed to limit average global temperature increases, the resulting climate change, and how to cope with the impacts. By 1995, countries recognised that emission reductions provisions in the UNFCCC were deficient and began negotiations to support global responses to climate change which culminated in the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol (KP) in 1997. The Protocol consists of legally binding emission reduction targets by the developed countries. By 2010, other climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies had emerged to support Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) and the revision of KP. This module introduces professionals and non-professionals to international dialogues and processes related to climate change, including global, regional, and national level responses to climate change. It also explores the preparedness of the African continent and dialogues, processes and mechanisms to addresses issues of climate change vulnerability, mitigation and adaptation at all levels. For purposes of learning, delivery methods include interactive lectures; group discussions; question and answer sessions; brainstorming and case study activities. Chapter 1 discusses the historical overview of international responses to climate change. Chapter 2 looks at the first multilateral organisations tasked to address climate change, including the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Chapter 3 is an overview of the UNFCCC, its objectives, principles, actors and institutional arrangement. Chapter 4 is based on a critical analysis of the KP market-based mechanisms of Emissions Trading (ET), Joint Implementation (JI) and Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). Chapter 5 discusses other strategies for climate change mitigation including REDD+. Chapter 6 discusses Africa’s preparedness and position in climate change negotiations including participation in international and regional initiatives. Finally, in chapter 7, national CC dialogues, processes and mechanisms are discussed.

Forest certification is a mechanism by which well-managed forests are able to communicate information about the quality of forest management to markets. Activity Outline Forest certification schemes are based on developing two strategic tools. Firstly, national performance standards, developed in consensus with national forest stakeholders to be applied at the level of a forest management unit. Secondly, systems to inspect and evaluate forest management against agreed standards The need for institutions that will mainstream and guide the process of Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT), is fundamental Forest certification on its own cannot ensure commercial success. It is important that forest product processing is of a high quality. However, forest certification in combination with a high quality product can give access to high value markets. If African countries are to realize the commercial and value-added potential of the production, and trade/export of wood and non-wood 

The study was carried out with the aim of analyzing and establishing what lessons have been learnt from positive and negative experiences of various initiatives, projects and programmes aiming at sustainable management, use and conservation of rain forests in Sub-Saharan Africa. The lessons learnt from the case studies are articulated around the following four particular items: (1) necessary conditions for implementing SFM and the extent to which current practices satisfy these conditions, (2) factors that inhibit implementation, (3) what needs to be done by different actors and (4) replicability of success stories.

The case study provides in-sights on initiation, negotiation and implementation of International Forestry Related Agreements (IFRAs). It is observed and concluded that (i) there is low and inconsistent participation by Africa in international forest processes that lead to IFRAs, ostensibly due to lack of funds, (ii) Africa is not influencing the outcomes of the processes, (ii) African national institutions face challenges in mainstreaming outcomes IFRAs, not only due to lack of capacity, but also because of poor ownership of the outcomes, (iv) African forestry institutions have many overlapping international and regional initiatives to deal with that require substantial resources, which are not readily available, (v) there is inadequate participation by the private sector, (vi) countries send different individuals to successive forums resulting in lack of institutional and policy memory and hence continuity. In extreme cases, this has resulted in countries taking contradictory positions on specific issues in successive sessions, (vii) many countries send delegations without adequate preparation, and (viii) many countries lack competent resource persons to handle issues under discussion. In some cases, there is little understanding and consensus at national level on issues under international debate. As a result of the foregoing, there is limited awareness and appreciation within African governments on existence of the instruments and countries lack a critical mass of people knowledgeable on them. Accordingly, it is not easy to mainstream IFRAs into national policies, laws and strategies. A structured layered approach for participation and feedback is proposed to expedite effectiveness and implementation.

Professional associations are needful for effective coordination of professional activities to enable them achieve the aims and objectives of setting the up. Such associations abound for most professions in Europe, America and Asia. They are gradually finding relevance in Africa. The prevalence of professional forestry associations in West Africa was investigated. The study covered Benin, Cameroon, the Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal and Sierra Leone. Indices examined include mission, governance, effectiveness, efficiency relevance, financial viability, leadership, strategic and programme planning, programme implementation, monitoring and evaluation as well as networking/partnership/linkages. Of the eight countries studied, Benin and the Gambia did not have professional forestry associations. By far, the most established and active of the six associations examined in the sub-region is the Forestry Association of Nigeria (FAN) founded in October, 1970, followed by Forestry Association of Ghana (FAG) and The National Forestry and Wildlife Association (NFWA) of Sierra Leone. Though all the associations have governance structures, the relative strength of each of them determines their effectiveness, efficiency and financial viability. All the associations are resource-poor and need to be strengthened in terms of administration and funding to enable them accomplish their missions better. An umbrella forestry association is recommended for Africa, with nodes in sub-regions. The African Forest Forum is most suited to facilitate this.

National Plans and Programmes related to People, Forests and Climate Change in West Africa were reviewed in a desk study, in order to improve understanding of how forests and trees, and the people who depend on them, respond to climate change and variability. The study focused on National Adaptation Plans/Programmes of Action (NAPAs), National Climate Change Strategies, Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) and National Communications to the UNFCCC, and sought to identify gaps and factors influencing their implementation, and how these could be filled through forestry and forestry-related interventions. The study also examined the profiles and capacities of public forest administrations in the studied West African countries, in terms of human, financial and physical capacities for effective monitoring, reporting and verification in the implementation of multilateral environmental agreements related to forestry and climate change, as well as the extent of participation of women, youth and vulnerable groups in forest based climate change response actions and how these could be enhanced. All countries in West Africa are parties to the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol. All, except Liberia, have submitted their Initial/First National Communication and 11 of them have submitted the Second National Communication. All 15 Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in the sub-region have submitted NAPAs and two of the non-LDCs have elaborated national adaptation strategies with implementation plans. Only six of the countries have responded to the Copenhagen Accord requirement for submission of Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs). Common constraints to implementation of the plans are shortage of funds and human resources, poor knowledge base and institutional bottlenecks. For many countries the involvement of forestry is not explicitly highlighted in their climate change response plans. Along with harnessing external support to improve financial and technical capacity, and applying the funds gained to building human (by education and training), research and institutional capacities, recognition of the role of forestry, and investment to strengthen this role will have a widespread positive influence in achieving the goals of many of the listed climate change response measures in the sub-region. Only Burkina Faso and Senegal have good forest inventory capacity. Niger has some, but the rest of the countries have limited or very low forest inventory capacities Also, the majority (12 out of 18) of the countries studied have very low forest area monitoring capacities, as judged by shortcomings in consistency, transparency, comparability, completeness and accuracy of reports they have returned to bodies such as FAO, UNFCCC and the World Bank. Most (11) of the countries with low forest area monitoring capacity are among the LDCs. It is suggested that the low capacities observed partly reflect a long tradition of neglect of inventory, monitoring and reporting in forest practice in most African countries, including the West African countries studied. The capacity building required to overcome this is not just in terms of skills, tools and facilities, but also in terms of national re-orientation, and particularly of the forestry services. Except in countries where cultural norms restrict women from taking part in field activities, women, youth and the poor traditionally participate actively in forestry activities, including those done in response to climate change, e.g. nursery work, planting tree seedlings, watering and tending seedlings as well as monitoring agroforestry practices and protecting naturally regenerated seedlings. Women and youth also dominate in collecting, processing and marketing non-timber forest products (NTFPs). To increase the roles and benefits to women, youth and vulnerable groups in forest-based climate change response programmes, emphasis should be given to developing NTFP-based enterprises into a viable commercial industry sector that can take advantage of international market opportunities. Designing the emerging REDD+ mechanism to accommodate such a development, accompanied with policy reforms to address constraints to women's participation in forestry, such as restricted land and tree tenure rights, poor representation of women in important decision-making structures and poor access to information, will help to sustain the increase in participation and benefits to women from forest-based responses to climate change. Arising from the findings of this study, critical areas for further attention by AFF would be: to conduct a more detailed assessment than was feasible in the present study, to identify specific forestry interventions, and how to implement them, in the priority NAPA projects and climate change response strategies and actions developed by West African countries, with a view to recommending such interventions to the relevant countries; to organise a programme of sensitisation, re-orientation and training of West African countries on the importance of forest inventory, monitoring, reporting and verification of forest cover changes in implementing sustainable forest management and forest-based responses to climate change; and, to initiate and promote research into the development of NTFP-based enterprises into a viable commercial industry sector dominated by women and youth and linked with the implementation of forest-based climate change responses such as the REDD mechanism or in NAMAs in West Africa countries.

A report prepared for the project “Lessons Learnt on Sustainable Forest Management in Africa”.

Forests in Africa support the livelihoods of millions of people through provision of timber and non-timber forest products, food and nutrition, energy and payment of environmental services. However, mismanagement of forests has resulted in deforestation and forest degradation, thereby contributing to the increased emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This special issue highlights some of the research outcomes presented at a pre-congress workshop organised by the African Forest Forum and partners at the 2015 World Forestry Congress. In this issue, the main drivers of land degradation are highlighted vis-à-vis population growth, agricultural expansion, climate variability, drought and energy needs. Promising traditional management practices are identified including age-old farmer-managed natural regeneration and exclosures. In addition, research presented indicates that age-old systems such as native non-browse shrubs in Ethiopia are important in that they facilitate regeneration of late-successional tree species. Furthermore, opportunities for using forests to mitigate climate change are highlighted with a case study on the economics associated with carbon markets. The issue also highlights the methodological challenges of quantifying carbon in African forests. The effect of climate change on threatened forest species and biodiversity in general is discussed, and the associated human disturbances impacting on the population structure of a threatened species, e.g. Afzelia africana in West Africa, is presented. The important role of non-timber forest products in income generation for the rural communities and the associated challenges of commercialisation is emphasised with examples from two important tree species: shea (Vitellaria paradoxa) and baobab (Adansonia digitata). Finally, the issue covers a people-centred approach in tree planting and management where studies demonstrated that there are still problems of poor participation of local communities due to poor implementation of enabling policies, lack of involvement in initial planning and subsequent lack of clear benefit-sharing mechanisms.

As Africa enters the 21st century, many developmental challenges are encountered across the continent. Among them, the goal of achieving sustainable use of natural resources – especially forests - must remain in sharp focus and be addressed in a multi-prong approach. To better capture the role of forestry education and training on the continent, four key elements must be underpinned. First, the current status and future developments of the forestry profession must be placed in a historical context, traced back to early colonial influences, which, out of necessity, learnt and draw heavily on experiences from temperate region forestry. The consequence of a temperate region orientation of forestry training in Africa was a rather “narrow-scope” view of forestry adopted by colleges and universities. Arising from historical factors, the second aspect is that, with time, a largely public sector job market for which forestry education was targeted, shrunk and hence caused panic and “a diminished regard” of forestry as a profession among young potential foresters. The diminished job market in the forest sector has engendered an urgent need to re-engineer innovative means to make forestry attractive. This has called for many possible options: some forward-looking and others rather drastic. In some cases, forestry schools within countries or regions have used curriculum reforms to diversify or refocus their training programmes and, in other cases, funding to forestry education institutions has suffered major cut-backs which have seriously affected student enrolments. The dynamism between the apparent low public investment in forest education and declining numbers of students due to poor job markets creates a rather complex web making it difficult to pin-point the precise factors responsible for and/or driving actual status and future direction of forestry education in Sub-Saharan Africa. Thirdly, the past two decades saw a fundamental global paradigm shift in which empowerment of local populations in relation to management of natural resources – including forests – emerged as a dominant theme. Forests are seen in terms of broad multiple values and contributing directly to rural livelihood systems, and also seen as an integral component of land use and tenure regimes. It is this socio-economic mix of land resources that characterises the unique features of forestry in Sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, impacts of globalisation and trade liberalisation, the existence or lack of local and international markets for forest products, poverty and impacts of the devastating HIV/AIDS pandemic, all affect management of forests and other natural resources in the African landscape. Therefore, current forestry education and training must respond sufficiently to these emerging issues – not merely in a narrow sectoral manner, but rather through an integrated training approach of natural resources management disciplines. This calls for well fashioned and innovative approaches to forestry training curricula vis-à-vis that for other land use disciplines. We must seek to ensure that training approaches used lead to adoption of technologies in the larger agricultural sector that have beneficial impacts on Africa’s rural populations – it is imperative that tertiary training institutions produce agents of this change. Until recently, forestry training has remained largely traditional but there is now evidence of change taking place within institutions. This trend would need to be advanced and aggressively pursued so that forestry education on the continent is strategically placed in terms of producing adequately trained manpower for increasingly challenging tasks towards sustainable forest management. The primary goal is having a breed of foresters with skills and positive attitudes to transform livelihoods at the farmer level. We need to move beyond impacts derived only from those associated with logging and industrial forestry (thought this is not to say we abandon this function of forestry) to enhancing positive impacts at farm level. It also means ensuring that technology transfer to farmers is made affordable and practical, hence better and closer interaction between training, research and implementation.