As part of the implementation of the Citizen Voices for Change: Congo Basin Forest Monitoring Project (CV4C), Brainforest organised a capacity building workshop for the “Gabon Ma Terre Mon Droit” platform on the monitoring of non-forestry investments in the forest sector. This workshop took place from 21 – 23 December 2017 in partnership with WWF.
For almost a decade there have been large non-forestry investments made in the forestry sector in Gabon, including major infrastructure projects and agro-industries with the intention of increasing national wealth through job creation. Beyond the positive impacts, major investments give rise to several environmental and social challenges. In the light of this, it is necessary for civil society organisations and local communities to be equipped to monitor, in the same way as it would for forestry activities in the context of independent monitoring.
The objective of the workshop was to provide CSOs with the necessary skills and tools for efficient monitoring of non-forest investments in the forest sector. At the end of the 3 days, participants:
- acquired knowledge of the current state of non-forestry investments in the forest sector in Gabon;
- learned about the main issues and challenges of non-forestry investments in forestry;
- acquired skills and tools for independent monitoring of non-forestry investments in the forest sector;
- acquired skills and tools to write reports on monitoring and to follow-up complaints.
The workshop has been very useful for CV4C project partner Brainforest, contributing to achievement of results in their various projects in the forest sector, by developing approaches for monitoring forestry activities in the context of large-scale investment, such as mining, agro-business and infrastructure.
