NOTES AND DISCUSSION
General Discussion of Issues:
Jim Perry—What is the best strategic approach to focus on a specific area, like Central Africa? USAID is taking on new initiatives but is not turning its back on existing programs. $56 million from US government over the next 5 years will be spent for forestry programs in Central Africa, with 28 additional partners.
Scott Bode—Decentralization and devolution is a central issue in Africa.
Jim Perry—Urbanization and flow of resources from rural areas to the urban fringe is a widespread African problem.
Ajaga Nji—Networking is very important. Isn't it important to insure the work that is being done is widely disseminated? Carl Gallegos cited 4 web sites developed by USAID to assist in information dissemination.
Bob Karr—Where are the tropical foresters in American universities with experience and French language skills? The National Association of Professional Forestry Schools and Colleges (NAPFSC) should create a task force of selected individuals to go to Central Africa and develop an action plan. Jim Graham will check into resources from USAID to assist with this effort. Forestry, fisheries, wildlife, and water resources should all be included as part of the action plan.
Bill Shaw—How do we assist Africans to better protect and manage their natural resources?
Jim Perry—The Water Management Institute is heavily involved in training in Africa. The 1960's model with USAID was on institution building—building universities from the ground up.
Scott Bode—There will be an increased emphasis on training of African professionals both in the US and in African institutions.
Badege Bishaw—Agriculture development and NRM are integrally linked, e.g., soil conservation.
Perry Brown—How do you involve local people and enhance economic opportunities for the families through proper NRM?
Mike Jacobson—Forestry seems to be a "cinderella" program, dominated by agriculture.
Jim Perry—A focus on landscapes, including forest and water resources, is the best approach. Focus should also be placed on capacity building, education, and training.
Badege Bishaw—Partnering with African universities is a key approach.
Brian Bredenkamp—Forestry as a program of study at Stellenbosch University has fallen out of favor due to the green movement -- forestry with exotic species is seen as being bad for the environment. South African companies like SAPPI are using contract workers, including foresters. This is an economic advantage for the companies due to the lack of a need to provide fringe benefits. In some cases, technicians are being hired as contractors rather than professional foresters.
Ajaga Nji—How much sustainability is built into USAID programs?
Ajaga Nji—Some projects to educate students failed in Cameroon due to a lack of public and private sector jobs. An example is a French funded program to create an agroforestry degree program—no students enrolled.
Bob Karr—Political problems plague development projects—these problems occur with USAID and other development agencies as well. There is a need for developing a unifying program that can avoid this "political fog". Water is a key problem, so opportunities and solutions working around water problems will be long lasting.
Brian Bredenkamp—The largest single factor affecting afforestation in Angola and Mozambique is land mines. The potential for forestry in those countries is great -- climate and soils are ideal. There is a large United Nations effort to de-mine these countries.
Jim Perry—HIV/AIDS has an impact on NRM—what can be done?
Brian Bredenkamp—It may be necessary to educate three times as many people due to the HIV/AIDS death rate.
Ajaga Nji—HIV/AIDS follows the pattern of spread along truck routes, particularly log trucks. Can timber companies play a role in educating truck drivers?
Jim Perry—Strategic action on a continental scale is baffling. Looking for institutions and/or specific landscapes is one approach. Developing regionally-based training institutions may be one solution. Uganda is one excellent example. There are more issues and opportunities on a continental level than one can deal with.
Brent Bailey—Conservation International (CI) works with other partners. In West Africa there are not many international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) or donor agencies. Examples include Africare, World Neighbors, and Women's Movements. CI has national strategies dealing with 6 countries that they consider comprising West Africa.
Ajaga Nji—Development agencies should tap existing village groups in countries such as Ghana and Cameroon (English speaking areas mainly), to improve NRM at the local level.
Brent Bailey—Working on a regional level is beneficial, especially in areas where there is conflict. Therefore, when conflict erupts, there is an oasis in a peaceful area in the region. This also facilitates travel, and provides a safe-haven for academics and others to continue their work.
Scott Bode—Conflict and natural resources in Africa is an issue. Conflict can accelerate environmental degradation. Capacity building and institutional strengthening helps to preserve stability.
Jim Perry—US universities can provide assistance in capacity building.
Loren Kellogg—US universities need to build their capacity to attract and educate more students who wish to pursue international careers, e.g., language skills, study abroad opportunities, etc. Financial resources for things such as airfare are limiting.
Mike Jacobson—Forestry students tend to be parochial, and there is a need to increase their awareness of international issues.
Jim Perry—Forestry schools have existing capacity to handle more African graduate students.
Badege Bishaw—US universities need to expand their curriculum to have more courses of interest and need for African graduate students. Now we teach a fairly standardized curriculum which may not meet the needs of African graduate students.
Bill Shaw—At the University of Arizona, international students often come individually and not as a cohort, so it is difficult to adapt a curriculum.
Jim Perry—It may be possible to select American schools to develop centers of excellence in specific areas to link with African universities. Develop a partnership first— transaction costs are high, and recognize that impacts will not occur in a mere two years.
Brent Bailey—There may be an opportunity for American forestry schools to take study abroad programs to African countries, particularly if some of the lectures can be delivered by African faculty members.
Bill Shaw—The Center for Field Studies is interested in branching out to provide more education to Africans in addition to their core—affluent American students.
Ajaga Nji—There exists an international program in Vermont that sends American students to Cameroon for a semester abroad—it is hosted for a time at Dshang University.
Brian Bredenkamp—Stellenbosch University receives many study-abroad students from other countries, particularly Europe. It can be a lot of work for faculty at the receiving institution.
Jim Perry—I have written proposals to create linkages between various departments, e.g. water resources and geography, with similar students from another country, linked with a common web site. Students work on joint projects, collect and analyze data, etc. A student exchange is part of the package. A graduate student is assigned to the course.
Bob Karr—Issues such as national parks will be more important in the future.
Strategies to Deal with Issues and Associated Discussion:
Perry Brown—Create a consortium of NAPFSC universities and identify issues and how to deal with them, particularly if issues are regional in nature.
Bob Karr—Create a structure for bringing the NAPFSC universities together—see who is interested.
Michael Jacobson—Identify African universities and their issues.
Perry Brown—Broaden the focus to include water resources, wildlife, NRM, etc. Also include the National Association of University Fish and Wildlife Programs (NAUFWP).
Scott Bode—Consider regional programs and institutional capacity building.
Perry Brown—The International Union of Forestry Research Organizations (IUFRO) has an African office, in Ghana, of the Special Program for Developing Countries. They could be a possible partner in networking with research institutions.
Jim Perry—The Global Environmental Outlook (GEO) Program is funded by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and it provides a wealth of information of state-of -the environment by country, and a summary for the world.
Perry Brown—What is the health of the regional wildlife colleges in Africa?
Bill Shaw—There seem to be very weak wildlife colleges in Africa. NAPFSC should feature a few key natural resources universities, partner with donors, and focus efforts. It is far more cost effective to educate Africans in Africa.
Brian Bredenkamp—Once Africans get an American education it is difficult to get them to return to Africa.
Ajaga Nji—At Dshang University in Cameroon we attempted to develop a degree program in environmental sciences. Rural sociology could provide a bridge to these disciplines.
Bob Karr—Could NAPFSC and NAUFWP create a consortium to run a training institute(s) across Africa to provide expertise in Park Management, Forest Management, Wildlife Management, etc.? The American universities could provide faculty members.
Bill Shaw—A "hit team" of technical expertise could move around to different countries and set up programs, for example in Cameroon.
Jim Perry—It may be difficult to get faculty resources to take time off to go African countries.
Perry Brown—Regional programs in protected area management are now available through multi-university consortia, and in-country programs are now under development.
Bob Karr—Retirees may be a viable source of talent for these programs.
Perry Brown—University linkages are beneficial because they can ignore many of the protocols that government agencies must observe.
Scott Bode—The agriculture program at Michigan State University has a long standing USAID relationship. This relationship has paid off in a major way. Congress listens to the agriculture sector, and the university community has a strong congressional lobby. MSU has shown that investment in agriculture pays off in development programs. There is a lack in NRM with this data and long term linkages.
Perry Brown—NAPFSC has never lobbied for USAID programs—but that could change.
Jim Johnson—There are 69 NAPFSC institutions and another 20 institutions that belong to NAUFWP and not NAPFSC. We need to identify a task force or a subset of these institutions with the interest and talent to get involved in this initiative.
Scott Bode—It would be important to bring in other disciplines beyond natural resources, for example, sociology, anthropology, etc. USAID spends about $26 million per year in unrestricted support for research in the CGIAR and another $22 million for the Collaborative Research Support Programs.
Badege Bishaw—Oregon State University is developing a certificate program in NRM, available for both US and foreign students.
Jim Perry—We should offer, in American universities, a way to renew long term projects so that interim evaluations can be provided.
Scott Bode—A US university with "staying power" can build up a large capacity. Michigan State University has done this.
Bob Karr—This group should be willing to survey other NAPFSC institutions to determine their interests, following the model of the Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS).
Jim Perry—We should identify three institutions in Africa to cooperate with us -- eastern, western, and southern. We could have linkages from these focus institutions to other African institutions.
Bill Shaw—Another model to follow is the Indian Institute of Wildlife Management, founded by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
Brian Bredenkamp—Stellenbosch University now has strong relations with some other universities, like Sokoine University in Tanzania, in terms of external examiners and sabbaticals. There are also joint projects with the University of Western Cape and the University of the North, and also with Fort Cox.
Badege Bishaw—How do we bring together existing projects with this new NAPFSC effort?
Jim Perry—We should develop a web site that describes this collaboration, complete with contact information, housed within the NAPFSC home page.
Ajaga Nji—There are ways to assist institutions in Africa: (1) work with existing public or private institutions (in Cameroon it is easier to work with private institutions), (2) encourage private institutions as the government cannot afford to develop new public universities (work with new private institutions).
Mike Jacobson—It would be worthwhile to conduct an inventory of all of the existing forestry and natural resources programs in Africa.
Scott Bode—Would it be worthwhile to interact with research institutes like the Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI)?
Ajaga Nji—In Cameroon students are not drawn to natural resources academic programs.
Scott Bode—The linkage program requires that 8 percent of the US funds going to the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) core support should be devoted to collaborative research with American universities.
Discussion of Next Steps:
Loren Kellogg—Take information from this meeting back to the NAPFSC institutions and conduct queries as to interests.
Bob Karr—Develop a framework for NAPFSC to provide faculty to assist with institutions in eastern, western, and southern Africa—and pass information back to Forum members.
Jim Perry—Pursue interest in Central African Congo Partnership. Jim Johnson will query deans to see who is interested in the Partnership, and will add Forum presentations to the NAPFSC web site.
Bill Shaw—NAPFSC should begin to push lobbying efforts for USAID/NAPFSC cooperation.
Perry Brown—We need to determine a means for furthering the dialogue with USAID. After the NAPFSC survey is finished by Bob Karr it would be a good time for a NAPFSC/USAID meeting.
Brent Bailey—USAID is comfortable with their relationship with Michigan State— because the "old hands" at USAID are comfortable with it.
Perry Brown—This meeting was enlightening in that much information was shared about programs at other American universities.
Brian Bredenkamp—I could prepare a one-page description paper on the capability of Stellenbosch University to serve as a regional hub.
Mike Jacobson—The USAID missions would know the best institutions to partner with.
Jim Perry—The Association Liaison Office (ALO) for university cooperation within USAID would be a possible source of funds.
Badege Bishaw—The International Center for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF) would be a good contact to determine the activity levels of various universities in Africa.
Brent Bailey—Canvassing member institutions is a good place to start. Building institutional relationships starts with individuals, then builds to institutions over time. Funders, like USAID, prefer group efforts like a consortium or a professional association—it opens access to more people. Many African universities feel like they already have much of the needs covered, but lack resources to fully cover the waterfront. Likely institutions will surface—the ones who already have some infrastructure.
Mike Jacobson—NAPFSC has an advantage in extension education—due to the land-grant influence.
Brent Bailey—The concept of refresher courses for African faculty members is needed. Supporting academics from African universities to upgrade their skills is also needed—e.g., computer technology.
Ajaga Nji—There is a great need for African students to come to the US to study for advanced degrees, however, after receiving degrees, many do not return to Africa.
Jim Perry—There may be a funding opportunity with foundations like the MacArthur Foundation to get funds for African graduate students to study in the US.
Items to Include in the Final Report to USAID:
- Complexity of the NRM situation—poverty, health, governance, etc.
- Need to build up on-the-ground (people are not aware of sustainability of the resource).
- Capacity-building must involve local communities.
- African higher education capacity in NRM is low.
- NAPFSC is definitely interested in Africa.
- Across NAPFSC there is a great capability (NAUFWP is also interested).
- It is more cost effective to build up the capability of African universities to educate themselves.
- There exists the possibility to work with other donor countries, e.g., Sweden and Canada.
- Identify three major universities—eastern, western, and southern Africa to work with, but it is necessary to conduct an inventory of what is already there.
- Moi University (Kenya), Sokoine University (Tanzania) in East Africa, and Wondo Genet Forestry College at Debub University (Ethiopia) in East Africa; and Ibadan University (Nigeria) in West Africa are all possibilities. Other universities, such as the University of Natal (parks management), and University of Pretoria (wildlife management) are better for other fields.
- Subjects of interest to NAPFSC and NAUFWP include forestry, fisheries and wildlife, parks and protected areas management, and water resources. Capacity-building as a team should be qualified.
- Congo Basin could be a pilot—tied with CARPE.
- SAF could serve as a broker with the Congo Basin, since SAF is a partner with the Congo Basin project.
- Jim Graham has a CARPE manager in Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of the Congo) and he could serve as a focus for a pilot group.
- NAPFSC should identify a pilot group for the Congo Basin, 4 or 5 from different institutions and with different backgrounds, e.g., extension, silviculture, economics, water resources, wildlife, parks. French language is preferred but not essential. Two-week reconnaissance trip during the summer of 2003 would be ideal. Focus on the 11 landscapes that will be key features, as well as existing institutions.
- Africa Consortium within NAPFSC and NAUFWP should be established and should work within the structure through the International chairs. NAPFSC's Coalition for Private Forests is a model structure.
- USAID should make connections with other organizations like the World Bank, FAO, International Programs Office of the USFS, etc.