Noé brought together a diverse group of participants, including representatives from government institutions, international and local NGOs, private companies, academia, community resource management areas (CREMA), as well as donors and technical partners.
The conference was designed as a platform for sharing experiences, ideas and good practice, and provided an opportunity to compare experiences and points of view from different landscapes and countries, where the management of common assets involves a complex and effective system of community governance.
“The effort to bring people from different backgrounds to champion the course of CREMA was novel and very much impressive. In fact for me from the academia, it just added some more literature to my library and help beef up my lecture notes to make them more applicable to the issues of sustainability of the CREMA concept. I wish more of such event is organized not only for the few practitioners but also for student groups." Mac Elikem Nutsuakor, lecturer at Kwame Nkruma University of Science and Technologies
The event was both informative and engaging, with interactive panel discussions and political café enriched by this diversity of perspectives. Indeed, through discussions with representatives from Ghanaian CREMAs, NGOs and private companies, Kenyan Northern Rangeland Trust, Bolivian Fundacion Natura, US expert on landscape management, participants got to understand better the Community-Based Natural Resource Management principles and legal framework in Ghana, and how CREMAs can be an efficient tool of efficient governance based on illustrated examples from other countries.
The conference concluded as a good learning experience and it was one of the first time some of the stakeholders got to interact directly on such topics, share point of views and agree to cooperate more in the future for the development of their landscape.
“As a private sector, it was interesting to get this insight and impact of Community Resource Management Areas and how the conservation premium we pay helps in sustaining the CREMA because part of the things that have been discussed: biodiversity, soil, environment, social, can only be reached if CREMAs are economically sustainable. They need the help of the private sector like us to be able to develop. It is not only about what we gain now as private sector but about ensuring sustainability of our business and we need the CREMAs to do that.” Marc Amessi, Koster Keunen West Africa.
