AFF 2019-2024 African Forest Ecosystems Support (Phase - I) AFF 2019-2024 African Forest Ecosystems Support (Phase - I) African Forest Forum (AFF) har ansökt om 68 500 000 SEK för att genomföra ett femårigt projekt "Strengthening Management and Use of Forest Ecosystems for Sustainable Development in Africa" under perioden 2019 – 2023. Beslut om stöd tas i nuläget, pga begränsningar vad gäller att ingå mångåriga avtal, enbart för perioden 2019 till 2021 med ett belopp motsvarande 42 000 000 kronor. Beredningen av ansökan omfattar dock hela projektperioden. Beroende på resultat från den första fasen, kommer Sida att överväga stöd för återstående projektperiod.   

Insatsen syftar till att generera och sprida kunskap och information för att tjäna som underlag för policyutveckling och kapacitetsutveckling för skogshantering som bättre tar i beaktande miljöaspekter och fattigdomsbekämpning i Afrika. Programkomponenter: 1) Uthållig hantering och användning av landbaserade ekosystem 2) Klimatförändring och ekosystemtjänster 3) Förnyelsebar energi 4) Multilaterala Miljö-överenskommelser 5) Institutionell kapacitetsutveckling. 

Insatsens totala budget uppgår till 68,5 miljoner kronor, och Sida är enda finansiär. Föreliggande beslut avser endast en första fas av projektet 2019-2022 med en budget motsvarande 42 miljoner kronor. African Forest Forum (AFF) has applied to Sida for funding of 68,500,000 SEK to carry out the five years project named "Strengthening Management and Use of Forest Ecosystems for Sustainable Development in Africa" at a continental level during the period 2019 – 2023. However, given limitations in Sida's framework for outstanding commitments, the suggested decision only covers the period of September 2019 to August 2022. The assessment is however based on the full project document. The first phase of the agreement total budget is estimated to be about 42 million SEK, all of which will be contributed by Sida. There could be a follow up thought to consider the remaining segment of the contribution based on successful completion of the first phase of the agreement period.

The intervention aims to generate and share knowledge and information through partnerships in ways that provide inputs into policy options and capacity building for improved forest management that better address  environmental protection to contribute to poverty eradication in Africa. This will be through implementing the following five complementary and interrelated components namely: 1) Sustainable Management and Use of Land-Based Ecosystems 2) Climate Change and Ecosystem Services  3) Renewable Energy 4) Multilateral Environmental Agreements 5) Institutional Capacity Building.

The intervention total budget is 68,5 MSEK all of which will be contributed by Sida. This decision concerns only the first phase of the intervention i.e. the period from September 2019 to August 2022 with a budget of 42 MSEK. The overall objective of the proposed intervention is to generate and share knowledge and information through partnerships in ways that provide inputs into policy and decision-making options and capacity building, for improved forest management that better address environmental protection to contribute to poverty eradication in Africa. The intervention has five components, eight interlinked objectives and twenty expected outcomes on an overall level as follows: 
Component 1. Sustainable management and use of land-based ecosystems with the preservation of biodiversity; Objective 1: To identify and promote opportunities for protecting and sustainably managing the forest resource base on the continent as well as the supply of its ecosystem goods and services.
Component 2. Climate change and ecosystem servicesObjective 2: To improve knowledge and capacities of African stakeholders in responding to adverse effects of climate change through better management and use of forest ecosystems and trees outside forests.
Component 3. Renewable energyObjective 3: To examine the potential for production and use of liquid biofuels in Africa as a means towards developing green and circular national economies
Component 4. Multilateral Environmental AgreementsObjective 4: To enhance national forest governance by strengthening African capacity to effectively participate in multilateral environmental processes, and mainstream and implement decisions from them into their national policies and activities
Component 5. Strengthening AFF as an institutionObjective 5a: To strengthen the capacity of the Knowledge Management and Communication (KM&C) Unit in managing and sharing of informationObjective 5b: To strengthen the Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting (PMER) Unit to effectively support AFF activities