The 7th Decision and Orientation Committee (DCO) of the Program for the Promotion of Certified Forest Exploitation (PPECF) was held in Douala on 19 and 20 March 2019 at the SAWA Hotel
The 7th Decision and Orientation Committee (DCO) of the Program for the Promotion of Certified Forest Exploitation (PPECF) was held in Douala on 19 and 20 March 2019 at the SAWA Hotel
29.03.2019
The Executive Secretary of COMIFAC, Mr. Raymond Ndomba Ngoye, opened and chaired the debates in the presence of KFW and the PPECF team.
The discussions were then led by the PPECF, with the consultant ECO – Consult / Oréade brèche and in the presence of various partners from the private sector, NGOs and research organizations. COMIFAC will seek for the future a better involvement of the administrations in the projects of the program, their contribution being capital for all the actions aiming to reinforce the certification.
In general, the PPECF 2 guidelines are confirmed, and the
budget estimates have been made taking into account an additional amount of 10
million Euros, always subject to the no-objection opinion of the donnor, KFW.
Among the main objectives pursued, awareness
will be sought of the final beneficiaries of the support of the PPECF, while
integrating a reflection for the consideration of gender.
As a reminder, the actions of the PPECF are
articulated around 3 axes: (1) the setting up of the conceptual and
institutional conditions favorable to the certification, (2) the improvement of
the quality of the exploitation and (3) the strengthening communication on sustainable
exploitation.
For all of these 3 groups, the main ideas around which the debate took
place were as follows:
Continue with the support of the Regional PAFC and the regional FSC. The
involvement of the institutions and COMIFAC in the actions to be implemented is
particularly sought after. It was recalled that the search for a coordinator
for the recently launched regional PAFC project was a priority.
Support to communal and community forests with a view to improving
operating practices and their profitability. The idea of a « brokerage
platform » previously mentioned during the last think tank of the ATIBT,
was developed. A feasibility study is likely to be funded, and the objectives
will be to further explore the possibility of group certification and promote
the development of non-timber forest resources.
The continuation of the reflections with a view to a compensated taxation.
A feasibility study conducted by CIRAD will aim to propose tax reduction
mechanisms for certified companies.
Good governance at the landscape scale by capitalizing on similar
approaches, especially that of « Model Forests ».
The promotion of traceability tools jointly with other organizations such
as UFIGA in Gabon, and try to create bridges with existing systems.
Strengthening training in the forest-environment sector by involving
training institutions such as RIFFEAC.
The continuation of coaching to forestry companies, by developing a
rationale on the benefits of forest certification, facilitating as much as
possible the sharing of experience, and by setting up a system of anticipation
and response to possible NGOs observations (documentation, crisis communication
and complaints mechanism).
Promotion of the valorization of by-products (charcoal, etc.), non-timber
forest resources;
The continued use of new technologies in certified logging and
anti-poaching (drones, SMART software optimization) and the involvement of
local inhabitants in data collection.
Continue support for developing RIL (Reduced Impact Logging) methods at
dealerships
To continue with the implementation of the Marketing program around the
« Fair and Precious » brand, with a focus on obtaining indicators that
can demonstrate the impact of the actions implemented in the context of
marketing program, collaboration with platforms (STTC) and national timber
trade federations (Le Commerce du Bois, in France) with which synergies must be
exploited as well as the strengthening of correlations between the F & P
brand and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The support of a COMIFAC label was also mentioned. COMIFAC will have
internal discussions to better define the issues.
Lastly, it was hoped to strengthen public communication in the subregion on
forest certification and sustainable management at the regional, national and
local levels.
Various presentations
were made on some other topics, such as the environmental impact of tropical
timber and the life cycle study of tropical timber products. This subject
presented by the ATIBT could be the subject of a new project.
