Empowering the Production of the National Forest and Landscape Restoration Plan to Inform and Guide Forest Management, Conservation, and Restoration Initiatives
In 2020, a team of Directorate of Forests and Biodiversity staff began working to elaborate the Forest Landscape Plan with the technical assistance of the TRI team. The plan, delivered in May 2021, integrated comments and suggestions from validation workshops that consulted over 1,000 people from almost 100 communities across the country. The comprehensive plan includes four main chapters – context, objectives, methodology, and identification of restoration opportunities – that will guide and inform future forest management, conservation, and restoration initiatives in Sao Tome and Principe. Additionally, TRI facilitated the production of Four FLR Landscape plans that will operationalize the FLR interventions included in the national Forest Landscape Plan by outlining an implementation strategy. This includes landscape plans in Sao Tome North, Sao Tome Center, Sao Tome South, and Principe, which were finalized in 2023 and now guide the field restoration work of TRI in terms of priority locations and interventions. Together, the FLR landscape plans and the national Forest Landscape Plan outline the country’s FLR work over the next decade.
Without the consultation of local communities and stakeholders through workshops, the FLR plans would have been developed with significant gaps and failed to consider the priorities of local communities. Additionally, the development of the four FLR Landscape Plans enables the more efficient implementation of the National Forest Landscape Plan as they operationalize the FLR interventions included in the plan.
The elaboration of the national Forest Landscape Plan, as well as the accompanying four FLR Landscape Plans, brought TRI many lessons, including the priorities of local communities for FLR-based policies and how subnational and national policies can work together to successfully implement FLR and sustainable forest management actions over the next decade. By consulting members of communities across the country, TRI learned what individuals want to be included in the FLR plans and which activities would be best for the project’s goals. Additionally, through the elaboration of the national Forest Landscape Plan and the four subnational FLR Landscape Plans, the project also learned how different levels of policy can be elaborated in such a way as to implement and operationalize forest restoration and conservation.
Creating an Operational National Platform for Forest Landscape Restoration to Support and Steer FLR
TRI’s Sao Tome and Principe project established a National Platform for Forest Landscape Restoration in 2019 to support FLR work that includes concerned institutions, private sector actors, civil society groups, local communities, and partner projects. The platform was officially launched in 2020 by ministerial decree with four thematic sub-groups the PFLR operates in. Meetings have continuously been held for the validation of reports and assessments. This includes those produced by national consultants such as the Policy Influence Plan and National Capacity Assessment and Community Plan and by the Directorate of Forests and Biodiversity (DFB) such as the National FLR Plan and the four FLR Landscape Plans in Sao-Tome North, Sao-Tome Center, Sao-Tome South, and Principe. These plans were shared with the PFLR with workshops organized during the National Forest in March 2021, where input of members was used to identify gaps, introduce recommendations, and define future priorities like upscaling institutional recognition for the PFLR through a governmental decree and harmonizing its TOR with other existing platforms.
The National Platform for Forest Landscape Restoration would not have been possible without the willingness and enthusiasm of participating stakeholders to share their expertise and priorities. With stakeholders actively participating in the platform, policies are better elaborated with recommendations and technical input and more easily validated and elaborated. The platform’s sub-groups also allow members to focus on specific themes and better use their expertise to provide input.
Through the establishment of the National Platform for Forest Landscape Restoration and convening of regular meetings, TRI has learned lessons around how stakeholders work together to discuss FLR policies and priorities and how to best use the technical knowledge of members to strengthen national and county plans. Through the process of meeting and validating reports and assessments, the platform has provided information around what members’ goals are regarding FLR and what recommendations they believe will support FLR in the country. Additionally, by working to convene meetings of the platform, TRI learned how to better organize meetings and at what rate meetings should be held to best use the platform to elaborate and validate policies. As time goes on and more meetings are held, the platform will continue to run more smoothly and better facilitate the policy process in Sao Tome and Principe.
Ultimately, greater policy commitments and FLR regulatory frameworks are achieved through the uptake and integration of the policy recommendations identified through the policy reviews and participatory restoration assessments. Guided by its reports like the framework document on FLR strategy analyzing FLR-related policies, TRI Cameroon successfully developed the Harmonized Action Plan, integrating recommended restoration activities such as supporting the creation of green infrastructure, promoting agroforestry, and implementing financing mechanisms for degraded landscape initiatives, and laying the groundwork for future, more specific FLR policies. The development of policies like the Harmonized Action Plan also took into consideration some of the information and data found in the assessments, which will be further utilized in the on-the-ground implementation. Additionally, the legal decision and use of the Agroforestry Notebook brings an outlined direction of action and marks the uptake of a policy that gives individuals the right to establish and own NTFP plantations, boosting their involvement in restoration activities. As more NTFP plantations get registered in the notebook, the integration of policy recommendations directly contributes to an improved FLR regulatory framework.
TRI Cameroon had the necessary resources to contribute to the development of the Harmonized Action Plan and legal decision, which established provisions and actions that integrated the recommendations developed throughout the project. TRI also benefited from the political will of MINEPDED and MINFOF to elaborate and validate the policies.
Working to integrate the policy recommendations developed through assessments, review, and analysis, TRI Cameroon learned both the opportunities as well as restrictions around the development and implementation of policy tools. While the Harmonized Action Plan extracts vital recommendations from the Framework document on FLR strategy, the guideline document was brought about due to a lack of resources. Originally intended to pave the way for a national FLR strategy in Cameroon, TRI was unable to finance the development of a more comprehensive national strategy. Inversely, the success of the legal decision and Agroforestry notebook show how the uptake of recommendations contributes to a strengthened regulatory system promoting people’s involvement in restoration activities. By working to remove administrative barriers, hundreds of NTFP farmers can be registered and contribute to the country’s FLR goals.
Reviewing policies and plans supporting the restoration of degraded lands
Through the review and analysis of policies and plans that support or hinder forest restoration, TRI Cameroon was able to extract beneficial actions and suggestions to be included in policy tools and raise awareness around FLR policies, especially amongst government officials, where understanding around FLR is not universal. This includes supporting MINEPDED in the elaboration of the framework of the National Strategy for Landscape Restoration in Cameroon in 2021, which provided the main axis on which the country can rely on to implement FLR and was meant to pave the way for a national FLR strategy. TRI has also contributed to the development of policy and scientific notes, which provide specific information on a given aspect of restoration and are used to provide more detailed recommendations on specific topics to government officials as a way to prepare the base for more elaborated policy tools. In 2020, a political note on multi-partner and intersectoral collaboration in FLR as well as a scientific note on the paradigm shift to FLR, were elaborated and published. These notes are also able to be used within the context of the implementation of policy tools, as their specificity can provide greater detail on how to successfully implement FLR strategy recommendations.
Working with the Ministry of Environment, Nature Protection and Sustainable Development (MINEPDED), TRI Cameroon was able to contribute to the elaboration and publication of policy documents such as the framework of the National Strategy for Landscape Restoration in Cameroon. With TRI’s assistance, MINEPDED took part in the writing of the strategy and Harmonized Action Plan as well as in their endorsements.
Reviewing polices and plans affecting the restoration of degraded lands provided many lessons useful to the development of policy tools, including an understanding of which actions support or hurt restoration as well as how to better support the implementation of restoration activities. While the framework of the National Strategy Landscape Restoration in Cameroon provided suggestions on the activities that needed to be included in the policy tools, the Harmonized Action Plan acts as an extract and guideline document of the strategy. Meanwhile, the policy and scientific notes provide lessons on information sharing and awareness raising amongst government officials. By looking at specific issues and topics, the notes can be used to improve the understanding of FLR policy amongst officials and to lay the groundwork for future, more targeted policies that facilitate the implementation of greater FLR plans.
Identifying high-priority restoration opportunities and interventions through participatory ROAM processes
Reviewing policies and plans supporting the restoration of degraded lands
Uptake and integration of policy recommendations
Building cross-sectoral partnerships
Partnership meeting and event
Huawei Spain
The implementation of this solution has only been possible thanks to a unique cross-sectoral partnership established in the framework of the Tech4Nature initiative in Spain. The partnership was composed of local authorities (Diputació de Barcelona), park technicians, rangers and managers (Sant Llorenç del Munt i l’Obac), nature conservation experts (IUCN Med), IT company (Huawei), GPS specialists (Parés&Bosch), and camera monitoring specialists (Miranatura). The partnership is continuously expanding, and it is expected that research teams and universities will join the partnership in the near future, bringing in their expertise and experience.
In order to make a successful cross-sectoral partnership, the scope of involvement of each partner should be clarified from the very beginning. The local ownership of the solution is a fundamental factor to ensure its success in the long run.
Partners need to be engaged from the very beginning of the solution to ensure a true co-creation process. Nonetheless, the partnership needs to be open to eventual changes in its composition that can lead to further progress and improvements. The local ownership of the solution is what will ensure its long-term sustainability.
The skilled laboratory experts of AUT got extensive training in the specific sensitive PCR-based detection methodology in Germany (Karlsruhe) and Tirana (Albania). The methodology not only allows the detection of viruses and AMR, but also enabled the AUT to enhance the curricula for PhD students and researchers. Furthermore, results and information obtained from Albania extend the data bases of international institutions like WHO.
Capacity development and close exchange between experts and researchers of TZW and AUT imbedded into the GIZ water programme created the synergies between the sectors.
High-sophisticated trainings and international high-level exchange as well as intercultural and intersectoral tolerance generates win-win-situations.
Enhancement local laboratory diagnostic: Research – sophisticated Technology – wastewater-based monitoring (epidemiology)
The capacities of the Agricultural University Tirana's laboratories had been extended by the microbiological laboratory for wastewater-based monitoring on COVID-19, viruses and AMR with a PCR-based real-time detection method.
Close collaboration and knowledge transfer between TZW and AUT is one main important enabling factor as well as the provided budget (COVID-19 response) for the infrastructure of the laboratory by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
For the furnishing of the laboratory specific conditions had to be fulfilled, f. ex. furnitures, aeration systems, safety regulations to be respected, which were time consuming.
The Early Warning System is structured on three levels: the scientific level consisting of the participating water and wastewater utilities as basis, the political level with the Public Health Institute and the policy and strategic level with the inter-sectoral and inter-ministerial exchange The later were facilitated and national and international cooperations with research institutes and universities assisted.
Institutionalised communication and exchange are important for the intersectoral cooperation and collaboration. The political will for the implementation of the Early Warning System is elementary.
The timeline plays an important role for the implementation and continuation of the early warning system, initiated by the COVID-19 pandemics.
Early Warning System - a multi-block building solution
The implementation of Albania’s early warning eystem on viruses and AMR is based on processes of enhancement local laboratory diagnostics, capacity development (laboratory planning, training), knowledge transfer and the facilitation of intersectoral and inter-ministerial cooperation.
Enhancement local laboratory diagnostic: Research – sophisticated Technology – wastewater-based monitoring (epidemiology)
Training
Apart from international exchange and knowledge transfer, awareness of characteristics of the health and water sector and interfaces are relevant as well as the human factor to overcome silo-thinking and encouraging strong engagement. Trainings and exchange between skilled staff is elementary and the political will needed.
Information, sensitisation and awareness rising for all institutions involved in the early warning system, well described win-win-situations, and a regular transparent communication as trust building process are the basis for the success. The time required for the implementation shouldn't be underestimated.
