Matchmaking Tools

› Problem Definition:

In Benin, deforestation is in progress at a high speed (forest and wooded savannahs covered 78,000 km² in 1980, 69,000 km² in 1990 and 50,000 km² in 1997). The country is densely populated and tree formations are turned into farmlands (at least 1,600km² every year) and into pastures, while trees are harvested for timber and charcoal. Bush fire is also a factor of deforestation and biodiversity losses. Protected areas are supposed to cover 19% of the country area but yearly more than 1,000 km² are affected by land clearing, overgrazing and illegal timber harvesting. Consequences are losses of biodiversity, land erosion and siltation of rivers and lagoons. Forestry contribution to the GDP is about 3% but consequences of environmental degradation are also assessed at about 3% (minus). In contrast, the experiences of Costa Rica, which succeeded in reversing deforestation trends and Bhutan, where environmental concerns are main goals in policies should be very valuable.

› Project Description:

The aim of the project “Towards community based biodiversity conservation policies and actions: Learning from actual and potential practices in Benin, Bhutan and Costa-Rica” is to learn from past experiences on conservation policies and on strategies designing, managing and implementing protected areas. Stakeholders platforms involved in such protected areas are formed at a local level in specific sites (2-3 sites) and at national level. In such arenas, past experiences and potential options for a better protection are discussed. A
discussion group on the web also shares experiences from Bhutan, Costa Rica and Benin.
Results from learning sessions on local and national experiences, al well as from experiences from abroad are fed back to platform members in appropriate formats. Media are also mobilised for a contribution and a scaling up of the debate.

› Overall Objective:

To learn from past experiences on conservation policies and on strategies designing, managing and implementing protected areas.

› Implementing Strategy:

The project team offers the interested partner organisations its expertise in stakeholder analysis, especially in situations where the interests of different categories are contradictory.
It also offers expertise to deal with the various ways in which some stakeholders of forest conservation happen to develop strategies to bypass the rules and regulations. To this end, the project team has developed methodologies for participatory appraisal and facilitation of discussion platforms with different types of participants (from high level decision makers to illiterate voiceless inhabitant groups).
According to the context of the partner concerned, some of the failures or confiscated successes analysed in the Benin context might also be of interest.
In return the Benin team gratefully learns about experiences in other social and cultural contexts, about (at least partly) success stories and “policies that work”, so that these experiences can feed the on going national debate.
At the end of the (short) process, lessons learnt should be processed into proposals for national policies and operational strategic changes. Proposals will be relevant because they are derived from experiences of national stakeholders. But they will also be more credible if they can be backed up by experiences elsewhere.