Session presentation delivered by Mahamane Larwanou, African Forest Forum and ICRAF

1. East African experiences on negotiation and co-
management for joint forest management (JFM)
Larwanou, M and Kowero, G
African Forest Forum (AFF)
C/o World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF)
United Nations Avenue
P.O.Box 30677 – 00100, Nairobi, Kenya
E-mail: m.larwanou@cgiar.org
Website: www.afforum.org

2. Introduction
• Poor forest governance has cost East Africa dearly in terms
of reduced goods and services, lost taxes and royalties, and
the erosion of livelihoods;
• The political response has been slow to unfold, but that is
changing.
• A regional Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and
Trade (FLEGT) process has been launched under the
auspices of the East African Community (EAC) to
implement the 2003 Yaoundé declaration on improving
forest law enforcement and governance (FLEG).

3. • After two years of studies and consultations, the
Forest Law Enforcement and Governance (FLEG)
process is now at the crucial point of translating ideas
into action.
• A regional workshop in October 2008 in Nairobi,
Kenya, produced an outline and road map for a
regional action plan.
• EAC member states (Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda,
Burundi, Uganda) expect the plan to be ready during
the first half of 2009.

4. Key FLEGT issues within the EAC region – the crimes
• Illegal/unauthorized occupation/acquisition or use of forest
land for various uses;
• Illegal harvesting, transport, trade and smuggling of forest
products within and between individual countries;
• Unsustainable forest management- lack of inventory data
to facilitate planning;
• Inequitable distribution of forest resources;
• Lack of transparency, inadequate information/awareness
and accountability in timber utilization, processing,
marketing and trade.

5. Key FLEGT issues within the EAC region –Underlying
causes
• Weak and/or inadequate policy, legislative and institutional
frameworks- opening doors to poor governance, corruption and illegal
practices – leading to deforestation and forest degradation;
• Short-sighted political decisions – an euphemism for corruption-
excisions, political patronage, land grabbing- leading to deforestation;
• Weak forest law enforcement resulting in non-collection of revenue,
lack of political good will and commitment, and distortion of market
for timber products;
• Poverty and population pressure as drivers: the link between poverty
and land degradation- high dependence on land resources for
livelihood.

6. Key FLEGT issues within the EAC region –
Proposed solutions
• Strengthen policy and legislative frameworks
Coordination and harmonization of policy and legislative
frameworks;
Certification and verification, forest law and governance;
Issue of livelihoods and link to participation of local
population groups to secure collaboration on FLEG issues;
Appreciation of the role of forests at national, regional and
global level- economic, environment and social-cultural
(integration into national strategic frameworks);

7. Solutions (cont.)
• Enhance mechanisms to promote sustainable forest
management
User-rights regimes, concessions;
Transparency in issuing of concessions, licenses;
Strengthen PFM;
Criteria and indicators (definition) of sustainability;

8. Solutions (cont.)
Strengthen capacity for monitoring, enforcement and
compliance with FLEG
Awareness/civic education;
Training on FLEGT issues through seminars, exchange
visits, postgraduate studies;
Development of tools of controlling illegal logging and
timber trade (felling plans, standardized tarrifs, etc);
Promote cooperation and collaboration with bilateral
and multilateral partners
Establish agreements with multilateral and bilateral
institutions to support FLEGT;
Initiate regional agreements/Protocols through EAC.

9. Solutions (cont.)
Link national FLEG to international forest
governance processes (UNFF, AFLEG, FLEGT)
Strengthen EAC forum on Forests to ensure
harmonized position at Africa/international level;
Utilize existing/proposed funding opportunities -
GEF, the Prototype Carbon fund, carbon
trading/REDD.

10. Solutions (cont.)
Information/awareness creation on FLEG
Create awareness on stakeholder roles and
responsibilities in PFM;
Undertake and keep updated inventory on forest
resources;
Ensure access to information on available timber
resources, trade agreements, concessions, and availability
of opportunities in timber trade;

11. Solution (cont.)
• Promote/streamline market and trade in forest products
through:
Policies and regulations that protect local investors;
Mechanisms for monitoring, certification and verification
of cross-border trade in forest products;
Access to information of available opportunities in
timber trade;
Simplification of trade regulations and code of conduct;
Political good will and commitment –stakeholder
participation.

12. Four priorities for regional action emerged from the
Nairobi workshop
1) making the economic case for forests;
2) strengthening political will and awareness about forest
issues and challenges;
3) increasing the resources available to forest administrations
and participatory forest management initiatives;
4) strengthening the implementation of laws and policies.

13. Thank you