Unsustainable sourcing practices for agricultural value chains (e.g. coffee, cocoa, palm oil, soy) and increased demand for land and wood endanger the environment and livelihoods: forests and forest landscapes disappear and with them, the ecosystem functions that human well-being requires. In the long run, unsustainable sourcing practices will lead to a collapse of the agricultural production system as a result of environmental degradation and climate change. It is estimated that global forest landscape restoration (FLR) targets, also promoted by the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100), will need annual investments of $50 billion. Since financial resources from the public sector will be insufficient, the public sector will need to mobilize private sector investment and motivate its stakeholders to set up deforestation-free supply chains and sustainable landscape management practices. The jurisdictional approach offers a solution for sustainable production and income for rural communities as well as for private sector companies.

Agenda

Opening (5 min):Dr Stefan Schmitz, BMZ

Keynotes (each 5-7 min): H.E Mr Kebede, Ethiopian State Minister of Forestry; Hon Minister Francine Tumushime, Rwanda Ministry of Lands and Forestry (tbc)

Panel Discussion: Towards a common goal – contributions from technical and financial partners to the AFR100 Initiative (45 min):

Moderator: Mr Charles Karangwa, IUCN Regional Coordinator

Mr Ulrich Apel, Senior Environmental Specialist, GEF

Mr Philippe Dardel, Worldbank

Ms Elisabeth Huesing, Heinz Sielmann Stiftung

Ms Mirjam Kuzee, IUCN

Mr Mamadou Diakithé, NEPAD Agency

Moderated Q&As with audience (15 min)

Closing Remarks (5 min): Mr Mamadou Diakithé, AFR100 Secretariat (NEPAD)

Objectives:

• Present progress made so far and discuss further efforts needed from countries, financial (public/private) and technical partners to achieve AFR100 goals
• Offer a platform to announce further contributions and showcase concrete examples from various sectors that contribute to FLR in the context of AFR100; 

Building on the 3^rd AFR100 Annual Partners Meeting held just before the GLF in Nairobi, the side-event will present progress on delivery of AFR100 targets, present concepts for inclusive and innovative contributions in the context of the overall need for more financial resources towards FLR in Africa.

Links with GLF mission:

The side-event will bring together a variety of stakeholders from different sectors to discuss contributions towards restoration targets, present concepts for innovate and inclusive contributions towards meeting the AFR100 targets, and link important aspects such as finance with the need for inclusive approaches considering youth and gender aspects.

This launchpad will present the key products and outcomes of a prototype of an Eastern Africa Forest Observatory (OFESA) to policy makers, practitioners and the general public. The products include the observatory’s website and capabilities, a State of Forests report for the region covering Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Mozambique and recommendations for the longer-term sustainability of the observatory. The observatory’s website can be found here http://apps.rcmrd.org/ofesa/en/  and the state of forests report can be downloaded here.

The Eastern Africa Forest Observatory was developed in response to the significant loss of forests experienced in the region with negative impacts on forest goods and services (including climate regulation) and  local livelihoods. Moreover, many factors driving forest cover loss are transboundary in nature resulting in the need to monitor at a regional scale to ensure sustainable forest management and conservation. However, the existing forest monitoring systems and initiatives are divergent, varying in scale, frequency and the type of data gathered, thus challenging forest monitoring at a regional scale. The regional forest observatory therefore provides the countries with a platform for sharing, exchanging and accessing data and information related to regional forests and REDD+ in support of decision making processes to governments and other actors. The observatory has data and information on forest cover trends and drivers of forest cover change that countries can use to track progress with achieving restoration targets under the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFRI 100) and other initiatives like Forests 2020. This data is also useful for national reporting obligations as well.

We will begin with opening remarks from CIFORs DG, RCMRDs DG and CIRADs DG (10 minutes). We will have short presentations that provide an overview of the project and its key outcomes (10 minutes). We will also have a demo of the website, its functionalities and a description of the underlying database (10 minutes). The final 15 minutes will be dedicated to a discussion about the future implementation of the observatory. All country focal points for the project will be present. We also anticipate that high-ranking government officials from the project countries will be available for this event. We would like the Launchpad to be filmed and livestreamed.

Speakers

• OFESA country focal points: Joaquim Macuacua – Mozambique’s National Directorate of Forests (DINAF), Alfred Gichu-Kenya Forest Service (KFS), John Diisi – Uganda’s National Forestry Authority (NFA) and Nurdin Chamuya- retired from the Tanzania Forest Services Agency (TFS) along with the KFS director.
• European Union (EU) Delegation representatives from Kenya (Alain Antoine Castermans), Uganda (Jalia Kobusinge), Tanzania (Jenny Nunes Correia) and Mozambique (Ana Margarida).
• Ministers in charge of Forestry and Environment from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Mozambique.