“This Stakeholder Forum is the result of many years of hard work, and we are extremely pleased to have officially started the development process for our national standard,” said Christine Nkene, President of PAFC Cameroon, the PEFC International member for Cameroon.
The two day event was attended by an extremely wide range of stakeholders, including forestry students and researchers, state representatives and administrators, traditional rulers and representatives of indigenous groups and communities, civil society representatives, forestry experts and engineers, industry representatives, negotiators and members of the international community.
The Forum was opened with an official ceremony including welcome speeches from the Mayor of the Yaounde VII Urban Council, the President of PAFC Cameroon and the Director General of HDS (a partner institution of PAFC Cameroon). This was followed by the opening speech given by the Secretary General of the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Technological Development (MINMIDT), highlighting the need to enhance sustainable forest management in the region.
Over the two days, stakeholders discussed some of the fundamental issues in the first step of the standards development process, including the standards development procedures as well as stakeholder mapping. The participants also began initial work on the early draft of sustainable forest management standard. Stakeholders hope to be able to submit to PEFC International for assessment before the end of 2014.
The Cameroonian Association of the Pan African Forestry Certification (PAFC Cameroon) was created in October, 2007 and aims to develop, promote and implement a forest certification systems adapted for Cameroon.
