U.S. Forest Resource Management

General

(USAID Central Africa Regional): ..The Forest Resource Management Activity will provide technical assistance to national governments, regional institutions, and civil society actors in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, Cameroon, Gabon, Central African Republic, and potentially other countries in the region. The objectives are to scale up and institutionalize land use planning and strengthen community forest management and livelihoods, forest monitoring, and institutional capacity at regional, national, provincial and local levels. This activity will a) develop robust and transparent land use and forest management policies, regulatory frameworks, and planning processes as the bedrock of sustainable forest management; b) improve access to and use of data, tools and advanced technologies for forest policy and management; c) advance dynamic forest economies supporting expanded community-based forest management; and d) strengthen institutional capacity for sustainable forest management at regional, national and local government levels. ..This activity will contribute to advancing the U.S. government priorities in Central Africa designed to maintain the ecological integrity of the humid forest ecosystem of the Congo Basin, which is vital to regional stability, a U.S. foreign policy priority. It contributes to the Joint Strategic Plan (JSP) Strategic Objective 2.2: (Promote healthy, educated and productive populations in partner countries to drive inclusive and sustainable development, open new markets and support U.S. prosperity and security objectives) by protecting natural resources critical to long term, sustainable growth, and food and water security. Furthermore, this activity will build the capacity of regional governments to meet their Nationally Determined Contributions for the Paris Climate Agreement and to access global climate funding mechanisms such as the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI)