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Capacity Building in the Congo Basin and Implementation of Independent Monitoring of Forest Law Enforcement and Governance (IM-FLEG) in the Republic of Congo

On this page: Summary | Activities | What We Aim to Achieve | Partners | Project Duration | Funders |


Summary

This project aims to contribute to the realization of good governance in the forestry sector and support the execution of effective policies for sustainable development.

This means ensuring, through IM-FLEG, that the Republic of Congo government commitments made through EU FLEGT Voluntary Partnership Agreements, for example, translate into real action in the detection and suppression of illegal logging, recovery of taxes and effective sanction of companies or individuals breaching national legislation. Sustainable forest management is not likely to be realized in tropical countries if good governance in the sector is not enforced. The comparative advantage that illegal operators have in the market place and in gaining access to the forest resource seriously hinders progress.

In this section of the website you will find information on the project background and objectives, as well as regular updates on the progress of the project, training manuals, mission reports, and links to the sites of our partners and funders. Please use the menu to the right of the screen to navigate.

Activities

The main activities of the project are the following:

  • Independent Monitoring of Forest Law Enforcement and Governance (IM-FLEG) in the Republic of Congo, to systematically document infractions in forest sector activities and analyse gaps in forest law enforcement. IM-FLEG is implemented through field missions, analysis of administrative processes, and multi-stakeholder meetings. Provide recommendations to improve the efficiency of forest law enforcement and promote reform in the forest sector in the Congo Basin region.

  • Training workshops, such as a regional policy workshop to exchange information with civil society representatives, national training workshops in target countries to train civil society representatives in techniques and functioning of IM-FLEG, and advanced training on IM-FLEG to six civil society representatives in the Republic of Congo, otherwise known as the ‘Shadow Team’

  • Scoping Missions in the Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo and Gabon to discuss with all stakeholders IM-FLEG’s function, possible institutional setting and role, adapted to national contexts

  • Publication of IM-FLEG reports, training outputs and scoping mission findings

    • What we aim to achieve

    In the Republic of Congo
  • Information on illegal logging activities and gaps in State control is available
  • The strategic deployment of the law enforcement services is improved
  • Documentation of illegal logging by forest law enforcement services is improved
  • Actions are taken on cases of illegal activities in the Forest Sector, sanctions paid
  • Transparency in administrative processes of forest law enforcement is increased
  • Sustainability of the legal, institutional and political reform process currently ongoing in the forests sector is ensured

    • In the Congo basin
  • Civil society’s understanding of IM-FLEG and monitoring ability is increased
  • Civil society’s participation in and understanding of regional processes concerning illegal logging is increased
  • A process has been established towards IM-FLEG
  • Sustainability of the reform process in the forests sector in the region is ensured
  • Information about the forest sector is available to the public


    • Partners

    Forests Monitor’s main partners in the project are:

    Resource Extraction Monitoring (REM) - REM and FM work in close collaboration on technical as well as strategic aspects of the project, such as the realisation of scoping missions to develop new IM-FLEG projects in the Congo Basin. REM’s main focus however, is on the independent monitoring component of the project.

    Centre pour l’Environnement et le Développement (CED, Cameroon) works mainly on the training component of the project. CED will diffuse its knowledge of IM-FLEG to local NGOs, and provide technical and theory training on IM-FLEG during the workshops planned for this project. CED has a long experience on aspects related to the participation of civil society in independent monitoring, and in the inclusion of civil society in discussions of Voluntary Partnership Agreements for the EU FLEGT initiative. CED will also support the elaboration of a regional strategy to increase the participation of civil society on IM-FLEG and the FLEGT action plan.

    Project duration

    This project is a 3 year venture, and is already nearing the end of its first year. Please see the rest of the pages in this section for more information on our project activities, its background, and our results so far.


    Funder's Site: EuropeAid Co-operation Office Home Page This project is being implemented with financial assistance from the European Union, the Department for International Development, the IUCN, and PRCTG, for a total amount of 2,103,493 Euros.


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    This page was last update on the 1st October 2008.