| Resumo: |
The eastern African coastal forest ecoregion is recognised as one of Africa’s centres of species endemism, and is distributed over six countries (Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi). Most is found in Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique, which form our focal region. The coastal forests are fragmented, small and surrounded by poor communities that have a high demand for land and forest resources. Although coastal forests have significant cultural and traditional values for local communities, they do not receive adequate support from the relevant government authorities and international conservation institutions. WWF has over 10 years research and conservation experience on the eastern Africa coastal forests in Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique and would like to build on its past successes by supporting the Eastern Africa Coastal Programme development processes. The major challenges to conserving these forests through the EACFP are dealing with three different countries with different policies, attracting and maintaining government and donor interests, identifying major stakeholders and their role in the programme and integrating and sustaining existing coastal forest initiatives in the region. In order to address the threats facing this region effectively, conservation of the Eastern African Coastal Forests needs to happen within a coherent framework, developed with partners and stakeholders. To initiate the regional partnership-based programme, WWF Eastern African Regional Programme Office (WWF-EARPO) held a workshop with stakeholders from Kenya, Mozambique and Tanzania in February 2002. Thirty-one people attended the workshop from Tanzania, Mozambique and Kenya., and were drawn from government, NGOs and universities. The programme aimed to update existing maps on the region, undertake a threats and root causes analysis, develop a vision statement and a set of regional and country conservation targets and actions plans, and to set out the next steps for putting the plan into action. After receiving reports on the status of coastal forest conservation in each country, a mapping exercise was undertaken to update and correct existing maps of the eastern African coastal forests....
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