Thumbnail Image

Strengthening decentralized forest governance in West Africa

Lessons learned from subregional dynamics, national legal frameworks and best practices











FAO. 2024. Strengthening decentralized forest governance in West Africa – Lessons learned from subregional dynamics, national legal frameworks and best practices. Dakar. 




Also available in:

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Thumbnail Image
    Technical study
    Comparative legal study on forests in West Africa
    Strengthening the forestry legal framework to address transboundary challenges and deforestation trends in the Upper Guinea–Sahel rainforest ecosystem
    2024
    Also available in:

    This publication provides a comparative analysis of forest legal frameworks in seven West African countries – Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Senegal, and Sierra Leone – with a focus on community-based approaches and cross-border cooperation. It highlights the key challenges related to combating deforestation and aligning national legal frameworks with international commitments. The report makes recommendations to strengthen regional cooperation under the aegis of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and to improve national governance of forest management, with a focus on wildlife- and flora-related crimes, land rights, and gender equality. This study aims to contribute to the revision of ECOWAS's Convergence Plan for sustainable forest management in West Africa.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Technical book
    Community-based forestry for forests, people and climate in West Africa
    Status and the ways forward
    2025
    Also available in:
    No results found.

    Community engagement in forest management and restoration, as well as in climate action, has been increasingly recognized and implemented in West Africa over the past four decades. Significant progress has been made in terms of policy frameworks, capacity development, and local community empowerment. Despite the considerable attention paid to community-based forestry since the 1980s, there is still no major initiative to regularly report on the status and progress of CBF in the subregion. This policy paper attempts to fill this gap by taking stock of progress in West Africa.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Brochure
    Towards better forest management across West Africa 2019
    Also available in:

    The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) are collaborating on a new 5-year project: Global Transformation of Forests for People and Climate: a focus on West Africa. The project is key to the rolling out of the ECOWAS Convergence Plan for the Sustainable Management and Use of Forest Ecosystems in West Africa, which aims to mobilize political, institutional, financial and technical support to address transboundary forest issues across ECOWAS’s 15 member states. The project’s objective is to strengthen decision-making on forests and land management across West Africa by improving knowledge of forest dynamics, supporting legal reform, and demonstrating and sharing the best community-based forest practices across the region. It is expected that sharing lessons learned and best practice will take place within the region as well as globally.

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

No results found.

Version History

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Version Date Summary
2 *
2024-10-30 08:30:26
* Selected version