CAWHFI component financed by the French Global Environmental Fund

Since the elaboration of the original CAWHFI component - which action is targeted on and in protected areas - all project partners felt the need to better integrate this intervention in the entire ecological landscape, including local socio-economic and cultural aspects. The World Heritage Center thus explored a possible collaboration with the French Global Environmental Fund to develop a new component to this CAWHFI Initiative that could integrate and respond to these concerns.

The World Heritage Center, in collaboration with WWF and WCS, developed such a new component. It is a three year program based on awareness raising of all stakeholders living around the selected protected areas on their role in sustainable management of wildlife resources. Financing of this proposal has been approved by the French GEF Steering Committee on 25 November 2005 for € 2.5 million.

Implementation of this new phase is foreseen for January 2007. An essential aspect of this component is to raise awareness and involve all stakeholders (local villagers, private companies operating forest or oil concessions, local administration, etc.) in wildlife management schemes. After an initial awareness raising phase, pilot projects at all sites will create and run consultative platforms gathering all parties to negotiate and elaborate wildlife management agreements accepted by all stakeholders.  A third phase consist of ensuring the implementing the content of these agreements by all parties and to elaborate with them a monitoring and control system.

The FFEM component of CAWHFI also finances the position of an expert in facilitation whose mission consists of facilitating the negotiation process of wildlife agreements and preventing the emergence of conflicts. The expert will seek smooth implementation of the wildlife agreements and help in the elaboration of monitoring and control systems.