PAPFor

A capitalisation report on the PAPFor programme highlights an impressive array of achievements, lessons learned and deliverables

Yuzhou — 2024-12-20T15:20:59Z

PAPFor was implemented through seven programmes (six landscapes and one regional coordination) that had to adapt to different challenges (health, safety, socio-economic). They have all tested a range of practices, achieved diverse results and learned many lessons. They have also generated a body of information and products.

Just as the PAPFor programme and the PAPBio programme on savannah and mangrove ecosystems were about to come to an end, a new regional programme, NaturAfrica, was being set up, as explained later in this newsletter.

It was therefore particularly strategic to ensure that all the achievements and lessons learned from the PAPFor programme were documented and could be used to set up the new NaturAfrica programme.
It is with this objective in mind that the PAPFor Regional Coordination has commissioned a capitalisation project to document and enhance the achievements in terms of good practices, lessons learned and products resulting from the programme.

For each good practice or achievement of the PAPFor programme, lessons learned were identified. In some cases, lessons have been formulated in the form of recommendations concerning the difficulties, obstacles or major problems encountered in the field, whether or not they have been overcome.

A participatory and inclusive approach was adopted, with around twenty resource people consulted. A series of consultations was organised, with the support of the Regional Coordination, by videoconference with the implementing agencies, UEMOA, the DUEs, OBAPAO, BIOPAMA and other stakeholders.

The ‘PAPFor Products' targeted are many and varied. They include socio-economic studies, biological inventories, spatial studies, protected area development and management plans, land use plans, local development plans, strategic documents for cross-border collaboration, activity narrative reports, external or internal interim evaluations, etc.

Nearly 600 documents were collected, consulted, compiled, classified and summarised by component, result and theme of the PAPFor programme.

A large proportion of these products are already available on the PAPFor website: www.papfor.org and will eventually be completed and migrated to the OBAPAO site and other relevant hostings so that the primary targets, i.e. conservation practitioners, students and national and regional administrations, can benefit fully from them.

Capitalisation report of the achievements of the PAPFor programme

From PAPFor to NaturAfrica West Africa

Yuzhou — 2024-12-18T15:44:57Z

The European Union is setting up a new programme to ensure the continuity of EU interventions in PAPFor landscapes.

As the PAPFor and PAPBio regional programmes come to an end, a new programme, NaturAfrica, is being set up in sub-Saharan Africa, with four regional components, including one dedicated to West Africa: NaturAfrica West Africa (NAAO).

Through this initiative, the European Union and the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU; or UEMOA in French) are supporting a network of key landscapes for conservation and development in West Africa, with the aim of protecting wildlife and stimulating economic growth by sustaining ecosystems and ensuring impact in the face of increasing external pressure.

As far as West Africa is concerned, and more specifically the forest landscapes that were supported by PAPFor, the transition will be facilitated by two important aspects: on the one hand, from a geographical point of view, all the ‘PAPFor landscapes' are earmarked for NAAO support, with four of these (Gola, Nimba, Taï - Grebo-Krahn - Sapo and Cross River) already firmly secured for phase 1. Secondly, from a thematic point of view, the interventions under NAAO will be fairly similar to those under PAPFor and organised around three pillars: conservation of protected areas; green economy; and governance.

A NAAO Regional Coordination Unit is already in place to support the European Union Delegations and the implementing agencies; it comprises a Regional Coordinator, a savannah/deserts expert and a communications expert, based in Ouagadougou, as well as a forestry expert who will be based in Monrovia from the end of January 2025.

To find out more about this programme in West Africa, read the factsheet here https://capacity4dev.europa.eu/library/naturafrica-west-africa-regional-programme-factsheet_en

New PAPFor book to serve as a reference in West Africa on Guinean forests and forest protected areas

Yuzhou — 2024-12-18T15:36:16Z

A flagship product of the PAPFor Regional Coordination is a book presenting the state of Guinean forests and forest protected areas in West Africa.

PAPFor Regional Coordination has been very active in recent months producing the document, Rainforests and forest protected areas in West Africa - current situation and outlook. The 300-page document focuses on the Guinean forest biome of West Africa and the protected areas of the six PAPFor landscapes, as well as the most important areas not covered by PAPFor. It aims to make up for the current lack of publications on Guinean forests and their protected areas.

The book is divided into five chapters: (1) Preface and introduction, (2) State of West Africa's dense rainforests, (3) State of the main protected areas, (4) Major global and regional policies governing forest management, (5) Proposed strategies for the sustainable management of West Africa's forests, and (6) Bibliographical references.

Produced in French and English, and richly illustrated with photographs, illustrations, tables, graphs and other figures, the document will be an important reference for a range of stakeholders, students and others interested in the biome, its biodiversity, the threats facing these forests and the proposed solutions.
The book will shortly be available for download from the PAPFor site.

Annual meeting of the PAPFor Steering Committee

Yuzhou — 2024-12-16T15:41:00Z

The regional programme's steering committee held its last meeting on Thursday 12 December 2024 to take stock at the end of the programme.

Progress and objectives

This fourth and final session of the Steering Committee was attended by nearly 40 participants, who examined the progress made and the results achieved in relation to the indicators in the PAPFor funding agreement. As this was the last regional meeting of the programme, work focused mainly on the final report of the programme and the capitalisation of PAPFor.

After words of welcome from the European Union Delegation in Burkina Faso, participants were given a presentation on the capitalisation of the programme, following a detailed study and numerous interviews. More than 450 PAPFor ‘products' (inventories, evaluations, maps, plans, communication products, etc.) were collected and organised. Most of these are already online on the www.papfor.org website and will also be placed on the OBAPAO website www.obapao.org and other platforms.

Progress on communication elements was also shared, as was the document on the State of Guinean Forests and Forest Protected Areas in West Africa, as you will read elsewhere on our website and in the newsletter.
The Regional Coordinator also presented an analysis of the programme's performance. Of the 25 expected results, 19 were achieved and largely exceeded and 4 partially exceeded, which represents a particularly high level of performance.

All the participants recognised and appreciated the good spirit of collaboration between the Regional Coordination and the implementing agencies, as well as with the authorities in charge of protected areas in the five countries, and are counting on the new NaturAfrica programme to build on the achievements of PAPFor.

Series of management and development plans completed

Yuzhou — 2024-11-21T15:22:00Z

The PAPFor programme achieved some key results at the end of the programme, with the finalisation of several management plans.

Throughout the PAPFor programme, support has been provided to update several management plans, such as those for Gola, Sapo and Grebo-Krahn.

The same dynamic has continued in recent months, with the revision of the East Nimba Nature Reserve Management Plan in Liberia, which was validated in September 2024. Most recently, the new Development and Management Plan for the Mt Nimba Reserve in Guinea was validated. UNOPS organised a validation workshop on 21 November in Nzérékoré. This follows the validation of the Development and Management Plan for the Mt Nimba Reserve in Côte d'Ivoire in February 2022. The development of these three plans represents a solid basis for the European Union's commitment to this key landscape, through the future NaturAfrica programme.

In the OKKPS landscape, the draft Outamba-Kilimi management plan was presented to the local communities. It then received comments from government departments before final validation by the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change, scheduled for the coming months.

Study of IMET evaluations conducted across the PAPFor landscapes

Yuzhou — 2024-10-23T14:30:00Z

Throughout the PAPFor programme, the Regional Coordination has promoted and facilitated the use of the Integrated Management Effectiveness Tool (IMET) to monitor and improve the management effectiveness of protected areas. More than 80 % of the 25 PAPFor priority protected areas have benefited from an IMET assessment, compared with just 16 % at the start of the programme.

At the end of the programme, the Regional Coordination commissioned ‘scaling-up' analyses, enabling protected areas to be compared with each other in order to develop more specific strategies for those that are similar. Visualisation tools help to distinguish between areas with high and low scores in relative terms, and help to define relevant improvement targets. Historical analyses were also carried out, in order to analyse progress between assessments carried out at the start of the programme and those carried out at the end.
This analysis was entrusted to two IMET trainers experienced in the exercise, one of whom supported three PAPFor landscapes for IMET evaluations in the field.

The results of the analyses indicate considerable variability in management effectiveness in the protected areas studied. Some protected areas demonstrate strong governance, robust planning and effective resource management, while others face challenges in these areas, resulting in less favourable conservation outcomes.

The analyses also reveal distinct patterns of management effectiveness and highlight the influence of internal management practices and wider landscapes on conservation success.

Exchange trip to Côte d'Ivoire on cocoa for members of Ziama agroforestry cooperatives

Yuzhou — 2024-05-17T12:03:46Z

Fauna and Flora International (FFI), in partnership with GRET, is implementing the "One landscape, one vision" project to support the N'Zérékoré Forest Centre (CFZ) in Guinea, backed by the Programme for the Preservation of Forest Ecosystems in West Africa (PAPFor), funded by the European Union. As part of this project, GRET is helping the cocoa sector to become more organised and to boost activities in communities bordering the Ziama Biosphere Reserve, by supporting sustainable cropping systems that do not have a negative impact on the forests and wildlife. GRET, in collaboration with a Guinean entrepreneurship NGO, the Maison Guinéenne de l'Entrepreneur (MGE), a long-standing national partner, has supported the creation of 9 Simplified Cooperative Societies (SCOOPS) for the production and marketing of quality cocoa, produced using sustainable practices within protected and maintained agroforestry plantations.

To help strengthen this dynamic in Ziama, GRET and MGE organised an exchange trip to Côte d'Ivoire in April 2024, to the town of Daloa in the Haut Sassandra region, an area of high cocoa production. The trip involved 25 people (female and male members of SCOOPS, including relay farmers, a representative of the Guinean agroeconomic research institute (IRAG), and the GRET and MGE technical teams), and provided an opportunity to meet 3 cooperatives with experience in agroforestry, marketing of certified products (Rainforest Alliance, organic and fair trade) and processing for the local market, to promote sustainable cocoa.

The aims of the trip were to:

To discuss the history, organisation and operation of the Ivorian cooperatives we met, in order to understand their origins and development, their main activities and their sources of funding;
Understand the agricultural advisory services provided by the cooperatives and/or the Ivorian technical services with which they work;
Facilitate sharing between farmers on sustainable cocoa production and post-harvest practices (agroforestry/agroecology, fermentation, drying, conservation, etc.)
Benefit from Côte d'Ivoire's experience in marketing certified cocoa that meets both environmental and social standards;
Provide practical training for women members of the Guinean SCOOPS in techniques for processing cocoa beans into chocolate for the local market.

Cocoa transformation training

Plantation visit

The exchanges were very fruitful and helped to strengthen the theoretical and practical knowledge of family farmers in Ziama. The women were very active in the training on chocolate processing and intend to try it out on their return to Ziama. Group marketing activities and cocoa certification (fair trade, organic) were of particular interest to the participants, due to their positive socio-economic and community impacts. Makouloubo Koropogui, a female member of SCOOPS in Baimani, was particularly impressed: "If farmers like us have managed to improve their incomes and even build infrastructure in their local areas, we should take inspiration from them. As soon as I get back, I'm going to share these experiences with the village".

Meeting with two Ivorian cooperatives

EU PAPFor supports the training of environmental education facilitators in Guinea

Yuzhou — 2024-03-07T09:29:02Z

Club PAN, an environmental education programme, is in its second consecutive year of implementation in selected schools in the future Pinselli-Soyah-Sabouyah national park. Offering the programme to students in the Soyah, Oure Marella and Madina Oula communities during the 2023/2024 academic year is one of the benefits for communities within and around the proposed park. The project is supported by the EU-funded Programme for the Preservation of Forest Ecosystems in West Africa (PAPFor) project being implemented by the Wild Chimpanzee Foundation (WCF) in the Outamba-Kilimi-Kuru Hills-Pinselli-Soyah (OKKPS) transboundary forest landscape between Sierra Leone and Guinea.

To train educators in the communities, and as part of its environmental education and awareness raising activities, WCF and its partners organised a 3-day workshop from 13 to 15 December 2023, for 12 supervisors, 6 directors, and 6 teachers from six target schools in the localities of Diandian, Ouré-Kaba, Farenta, Saférin, Soyah and Sabouyah.

The training focused on teaching techniques for 11 environmental lessons prepared by WCF, namely: the non-living environment, the living environment, biodiversity, endangered species such as chimpanzees, the role of animals in nature, conflicts between humans and animals, protected areas, the future Pinselli-Soyah-Sabouyah National Park, hygiene and practical conservation actions.

The training was structured over 2 phases: the first phase covered theoretical topics, to boost the capacity of facilitators for environmental education lessons. The second phase included animation practices to enhance effective learning and participation during the delivery of lessons.
At the end of the training, participants were assessed and awarded certificates certifying the quality of the new Club PAN facilitators.

PAPFor supports income-generating activities in six communities around Taï National Park

Yuzhou — 2024-03-07T09:25:28Z

The EU-funded Programme for the Preservation of Forest Ecosystems in West Africa (PAPFor) project is improving the ecological connectivity of forests on the border of Cote d'Ivoire and Liberia by developing income-generating activities with forest-edged communities bordering the Taï National Park (TNP) in Cote d'Ivoire. The project is being implemented by the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) in response to a socio-economic needs assessment undertaken in 6 communities around TNP.

The communities that took part in the livelihood programme were Kéibly and Zaïpobly in the sub-prefecture of Zagné; Daobly, Paulé-Oula and Sakré in the sub-prefecture of Taï; and Poutou in the sub-prefecture of Djouroutou. The PAPFor team congratulated the communities for curtailing illegal poaching, gold mining and felling trees in the park to conserve its remaining biodiversity.

As part of this support, a grant was awarded to a local NGO called Yacoli Village Ecole Ouverte (YVEO) to work with the communities to implement activities including the breeding of cane rats (‘agoutis', also known as grasscutters) and achatina snails (giant African land snails) and setting up fish farms. The grant started in April 2023 and will end in March 2024.

The beneficiaries, including members of the Local Development Committees (LDC) management bodies, received training in modern breeding techniques for cane rat farming as well as in simplified accounting.

On 27 November 2023, keys were officially handed over for the livestock farms in Daobly in the presence of Stella Gaetani, Deputy Head of Cooperation at the German Embassy in Abidjan. In her speech, Gaetani explained emphasised the roles and responsibility of communities in protecting the park against unsustainable human activities. The beneficiary groups and local authorities from the Cavally Regional Council and Taï municipality also attended.

The project has created a healthy competition between the communities for efficient project management and better organisation. To ensure the success of the projects, the LDCs have set up a collective network to share and exchange information, knowledge and experiences. Also, a collective of Community Chiefs has been created for the effective monitoring of projects.

Major renovation is completed at rangers' base camp for Mount Nimba, Guinea

Yuzhou — 2024-03-07T09:19:00Z

As part of the development of protected forests, the European Union-funded Support Programme for the Preservation of Forest Ecosystems in West Africa (PAPFor) project has completed and renovated the base camp for conservation agents working in the Nimba Mountains in Gbakoré, Guinea. The work began in May 2023 and the base is now ready for use. The official handover of the refurbished base took place in November 2023 and was attended by project partners and stakeholders working in the Mount Nimba landscape, including the Guinean mining company Société des Mines de Fer de Guinée, the Centre for Environmental Management of Mount Nimba (CEGENS), which coordinates the rangers, the Bossou Environmental Research Institute, the Mount Nimba Scientific Station, mayors, rural community heads and village surveillance committees.

The new base is located in the buffer zone of the Nimba Mountains Biosphere Reserve in Gbakoré, 2 km from the city centre and 4 km from the central reserve area.

The base camp constitutes several buildings, some of which were only at the foundation stage before PAPFor's intervention. The works thus involved the renovation of the wash block, the generator shelter, the administrative office, accommodation for the park manager and deputy park manager, and complete installation of the electricity and sewage networks.

CEGENS' data found that around half of the Mount Nimba conservation officers are housed a long way from the base, which can present a challenge in terms of organisational and operational capacity, thereby reducing the performance and quality of the services provided. “This refurbishment will enable conservators to be closer to their work site and management to have control over the work carried out," said UNOPS supervising engineer Paul Haba.

On behalf of all the rangers, Colonel Oua Justin BILIVOGUI, Director General of CEGENS, concluded the ceremony and reiterated the rangers' gratitude. "The rangers fully appreciate the level of collaboration between CEGENS and UNOPS within the framework of the implementation and support for the preservation of the Nimba Mountains Biosphere Reserve." He also expressed thanks and appreciation to EU-PAPFor for renovating the office and completing the accommodation to enhance working conditions. The rangers have additionally requested the construction of a water tower, acquisition of a high-powered generator and the creation of a reinforced warden section (15 officers).

The stakeholders also expressed their appreciation to the PAPFor programme for the adequate funding of activities to preserve the Nimba landscape and conserve the ‘outstanding universal value' of the UNESCO World Heritage Site.