Within the framework of the partnership and cooperation agreement between FSC and the Gabonese Ministry of Water and Forests, FSC has committed to organize training workshops for agents. This first edition trained about forty staff from the Ministry during three days.
The training was organized by Nathalie Bouville, FSC Africa Communication Manager, William Lawyer, FSC Africa Policy Manager, Edwige Eyang Effa, FSC National Consultant, Marius Kombila from GFEC consulting agency, David Zakamdi representing the CEB/Precious Woods FSC certified company.
The NGO partners KEVA initiative and WWF also made a presentation on the certification of community forests delivered by Annie Medik and Nelly Houtsa.
The training session started with a general presentation on FSC and a focus on its principles and criteria and FSC and dealt in particular with the explanation of the principles and criteria, the different types of certification and the benefits of certification.
The steps leading to the certification of a Forest Conscessio (a Forest management certificate ) was also explained.
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Technical workshops on specific FSC concepts (Intact Forest Landscapes, High Conservation Values, Free Prior Informed Consent (FPIC), etc.) completed the training.
The forty Ministry employees enthusiastically participated in the sessions and expressed their satisfaction with the outcome of the training.
A workshop program will be put in place for 2021 and the next training will be aimed at officials from other ministries concerned with certification. As a reminder, the Gabonese government has committed itself to having all its forest concessions certified FSC by 2022.