Bio-diversity

Activities that are to be carried out towards attainment of the project objectives will be implemented on the basis of project weeks as indicated below: 1.1 Develop criteria for establishing a community forest in the Lake Piso MUR. A standard practice in establishing community forest (CF) will be developed in a handout at the initial stage of this project within the frameworks of (a) the 2009 Community Rights Law and (b) the FDA community forest establishment guidelines to help guide the CF establishment process. The handout will be adopted to ensure that the project activities are implemented within established national procedures. The Secretariat of FACE will carry out this activity before the project launch. 1.2 Launch the project. This activity starts the awareness process for understanding the importance of CF and the key stakeholders roles in community forest establishment and management in the area. Experts / experienced individuals in the field of community forestry will be invited to make presentations. FACE will launch the project in collaboration with UNDP and FDA in the first week in Robersport or Bolomie in Grand Cape Mount County. 1.3 Conduct community engagement to obtain free, prior and informed consent (FPIC). This activity will be carried out in meetings and its intent of this activity is to sensitize target communities on the importance of community forest, explain their role in establishing it and seek their consent for their engagement in undertaking community forest establishment initiative in their area. A community should decide on its own whether or not it is interested in community forestry. FPIC is an appropriate tool to determine such interest. The field staff of FACE and the community engagement ranger of Lake Piso MSUR will carry out this activity in the second and third weeks. 1.4 Identify and select suitable sites for community forest establishment. This activity will be carried out simultaneously with the Activity 1.3 or immediately after it. The criteria developed in Activity 1.1 will be used to select the communities and/or forests suitable for community forestry initiatives. FACE field staff and Lake Piso MSUR Community Engagement Officer /or Botanist along with community representatives will carry out this task in selected Lake Piso MSUR communities in the fourth to fifth weeks of the project. 1.5 Create CF awareness through local radio stations (at most three) and production of posters, T-shirts, Capes and billboards. Awareness creation approach will be used sensitize target and adjacent communities on community forestry and what the project hopes to do. Information on the project and its activities will be spread through local radio stations. Posters will be developed and distributed to as many communities and target groups. Selected community members will participate in the awareness raising process to ensure its effectiveness. FACE and PCF will conduct this activity from the tenth to thirty-sixth weeks. 1.6 Engage the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) for registering the community forests. This activity is mandatory as provided by the CRL. FACE Secretariat and Lake Piso MSUR Warden will coordinate this with the FDA Monrovia Office in the seventh to ninth weeks of the project. 1.7 Survey community forests and develop maps for each. Establishing the boundaries of CFs on the ground contributes to avoiding future land conflict. Therefore every CF will be demarcated and maps produced and distributed among stakeholders. A contractor will be hired to do this exercise in the selected CF communities in the sixteenth to twenty to fourth weeks and will be coordinated by FACE in collaboration with Lake Piso MSUR, PCF and target communities 1.8 Conduct rapid assessment of each CF to gather information on its resources and structure. A contractor will be hired to do this exercise but coordinated by FACE in collaboration with Lake Piso MSUR, PCF and target communities. This exercise will be carried out in the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth weeks 1.9 Support local nature clubs to understand the importance of forest ecosystem and biodiversity. It is about time to build the capacity of youths (the future leaders) to understand biodiversity conservation and general environmental issues. Therefore the project intends to involve youths in the project by establishing nature clubs in community schools. This will be done by FACE and PCF from the twelfth to thirty-sixth. Weeks. 1.10 Develop a medium-term (four years) management plan for each CF. This exercise will be contracted but coordinated by FACE with revision/professional support from Lake Piso MSUR, PCF, FFI and local authorities and will be done in the twenty-sixth weeks. 1.11 Conduct periodic monitoring of project activities. A monitoring team consisting of FDA, FFI and local Government Authorities will do this activity in the (a) ninth to twentieth weeks and (b) thirty-first to thirty- to second weeks of the project. 2.1 Conduct assessment of local community institutions and community groups to be involved in the community forest (CF) establishment process. This is important to determine to structure of the community in terms of cultural practices, institutional management and interactions for socio-economic and cultural development. FACE Field Coordinator, Lake Piso MSUR Botanist and tan FDA Community Engagement Office will do this in the seventh & eighth weeks. 2.2 Organize community forest management committees (CFM

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