The kick-off meeting for the Forest and Wildlife Inventory took place on Tuesday 5 March 2019, attended by the Minister for Water and Forests and the international grouping of ONFI / IGN FI / IGN, engaged to provide support to Ivory Coast in carrying out the second inventory of its forests. The previous inventory dated back to 1978.
The project is intended to take two years. It has two sides – firstly to deliver up to date knowledge of the country’s forest and wildlife resources in order to give the Côte d’Ivoire government the means of action to optimize management of those resources. The second side aims to enhance the skills of the government personnel and technicians who work in this area. This significant “training” component will therefore ensure that the national teams acquire proficiency in both inventory methodology in the field and the handling of digital data collection tools.
The Forest and Wildlife Inventory (IFFN) project will be organized around the following components:
- Ivorian technicians carrying out inventories in the field: the Forest Development Corporation (SODEFOR) for the forest inventory, Ivorian Parks and Reserves Office (OIPR) for the wildlife inventory and the National Rural Development Support Agency (ANADER) for the social and economic aspects
- Data processing and analysis
- Presenting the results, in particular via a national workshop to be held in Abidjan at the end of the project
- Capitalising on the knowledge gained and raising public awareness of the issues raised by deforestation.
The Ministry for Water and Forests has received funds from the French Development Agency (AFD) via the program “Debt Reduction and Development Contract (C2D)” in order to carry out this ambitious project.
Three advisory bodies have been deployed to provide technical assistance to the IFFN project in support of Côte d’Ivoire’s natural resources.
ONF International (ONFI) is a bureau which provides environmental consulting and expertise, specializing in sustainable management of forest ecosystems and the fight against climate change. It offers public or private bodies integrated solutions for enhancing the rôle of forests and wood in territorial development. As a subsidiary of the National Forest Office (ONF) set up 20 years ago, ONFI brings to bear the skills and know-how of the ONF on an international level, supported in its development by subsidiaries in Brazil, Gabon, Colombia and Côte d’Ivoire.
IGN FI, a major player in the field of geomatics, provides expertise in the fields of cartography / national geographic data infrastructures, databases and geographic information systems.
IGN FI is entirely devoted to export activity and brings its skills and know-how to a number of areas – land administration, agriculture, forests, environment, etc.
As a public administrative body under the aegis of the ministers in charge of sustainable development and of forests respectively, the French Institute of Geographic and Forestry Information (IGN) is the State’s official operator in relation to geographic and forest referential information. It is certified as being neutral and inter-operable.
Contacts:
Cyrille Tiesse Bi Atte (bitiesse@gmail.com, 07 99 78 64), MINEF, IFFN project manager
Pascal Cuny (pascal.cuny@onfinternational.com, 87 24 48 91), ONFI, principal technical advisor for IFFN project