Mainstreaming International Forestry Related Agreements at National Level

Abstract

The case study provides in-sights on initiation, negotiation and implementation of International Forestry RelatedAgreements (IFRAs). It is observed and concluded that (i) there is low and inconsistent participation by Africa ininternational forest processes that lead to IFRAs, ostensibly due to lack of funds, (ii) Africa is not influencing theoutcomes of the processes, (ii) African national institutions face challenges in mainstreaming outcomes IFRAs, notonly due to lack of capacity, but also because of poor ownership of the outcomes, (iv) African forestry institutionshave many overlapping international and regional initiatives to deal with that require substantial resources, whichare not readily available, (v) there is inadequate participation by the private sector, (vi) countries send differentindividuals to successive forums resulting in lack of institutional and policy memory and hence continuity. Inextreme cases, this has resulted in countries taking contradictory positions on specific issues in successive sessions,(vii) many countries send delegations without adequate preparation, and (viii) many countries lack competentresource persons to handle issues under discussion. In some cases, there is little understanding and consensusat national level on issues under international debate. As a result of the foregoing, there is limited awarenessand appreciation within African governments on existence of the instruments and countries lack a critical mass ofpeople knowledgeable on them. Accordingly, it is not easy to mainstream IFRAs into national policies, laws andstrategies. A structured layered approach for participation and feedback is proposed to expedite effectiveness andimplementation.