Description

As part of the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI), the FAO has developed a global, standard and large-scale method for estimating and mapping changes in forests and the associated direct drivers using cloud-computing solutions and open-source tools, piloted in Cameroon, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Republic of Congo. Phase 1 is already completed, with the generation of high-quality spatial data on forest change and related proximate drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in the six previously mentioned countries in the Congo Basin, with the addition of a pilot study on socio-economic aspects of those drivers, limited to DRC and Cameroon. Phase 2 aims to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the ‘on-the-ground’ dynamics driving the forest change observed in the spatial analysis. To achieve this, local-level socioeconomic data collection methods and tools were developed and tested in Cameroon and DRC in 2022. The objective of this LoA is to update and improve the socioeconomic data collection tools that were tested in Cameroon and DRC in Phase 1, and extend the pilot testing to new sites in several new countries in the Congo Basin not covered in Phase I (Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Central African Republic, and Republic of Congo). The main focus of the work is on developing and testing tools (for use by others in research), and developing training materials to use the tools in the field (capacity development, training of trainers). The other aspect of the work involves publishing guidelines and scientific article (outreach). The methods and tools are designed to have the potential to be up-scaled to provincial, national, or regional levels.