A one day stakeholders meeting on forest co-management of the northern block of the Kambui Hills in the Kenema District organized by Promoting Agriculture Governance and the Environment (PAGE) with support from USAID and ACDI VOCA has ended at the 3 Ks Guest house in Kenema city.
The 37 participants in the meeting came from the District and City Councils, District Forestry Office, Village Forest Management Committees (VFMC), Experienced Ex-Foresters and the local consultant.
Giving a brief background of the PAGE project the field activity coordinator of PAGE Daniel Samu said the project started two years ago and they have achieved a number of important things such as the Kambui Forest Reserve identified as the pilot site in the Kenema District, land use pattern mapping, formation and training of Forest Management Committees and Awareness raising campaigns of communities and stakeholders.
He also said the Forest Co-management as a new forest management concept in Sierra Leone requires an understanding of its basic principles, strategies and procedures as well as direct involvement of key stakeholders in forest management.
The meeting he said is intended to raise stakeholders’ awareness on the PAGE’s Co-management approach and to have a clear position on additional communities within and on the edge of the forest critical to the ongoing co-management intervention in Northern Kambui.
In his statement the Governance Officer for Kenema and Kailahun Districts for PAGE, Sandy Massaquoi said the meeting is to bring together key stakeholders relevant to the management of the northern Kambui to generally understand the co-management concept.
The meeting was also to identify and agree on additional communities to be taken onboard the co-management process and to allocate these communities into blocks to ease and expedite the co-management process.
Sandy Massaquoi further stated that the forest belongs to the community people and the organization is there to ensure the wise use of the forest to benefit all.
Chief Joe Bendu Makinbai of Panderu in the Nongowa Chiefdom appealed to the organization to provide an alternative use of the forest for the community people.