STEWARDSTEWARDSustainable and Thriving Environments for West African Regional Development

Program Background

The Upper Guinean Tropical Forest ecosystem is one of West Africa’s eight ma-jor biomes, and it has an estimated 9,000 species of vascular plants. Of these, 2,250 (25%) are believed to be endemic. The ecosystem ranks high globally for both plant species diversity and endemism. However, this forest is highly degrad-ed, having experienced dramatic encroachment and fragmentation as a result of expanding human activities that have reduced the forest to approximately 10% of its original 1,265,000-km² area. What forest remains is severely threatened by continued use of unsustainable land use practices, mining and other threats.

The History of STEWARD

The STEWARD program is a forest conservation and sustainable livelihoods program supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United States Forest Service / International Programs (USFS/IP). STEWARD’s strategic objective is to implement a coherent regional program that addresses transboundary threats to biodiversity, capitalizes on regional opportu-nities to spread best practices, harmonizes policies, and addresses the adverse effects of global climate change in priority zones of the Upper Guinean Forest ecosystem. In its design phase, STEWARD started work on biodiversity conserva-tion (October 2007-June 2009). The pilot phase (July 2009-February 2011) expanded on this by addressing regional threats to biodiversity, supporting peace building, knowledge dissemination, and policy harmonization. Currently STEW-ARD is in its implementation phase, a four-year (March 2011-September 2015), 18 million dollar program (with 6 implementing partners (CARE-Sierra Leone; Bioclimate Research and Development Ltd; PCI Media Impact Inc.; Thomson Reuters; United Actors for Rural Development (AUDER); and Fauna and Flora International (FFI) through funding from USAID/West Africa.

Notable successes of the design and pilot phases of STEWARD include:• A successful regional policy harmonization assessment workshop, that forms

the basis for the current policy harmonization efforts in the region;• Training and capacity building of government and local community partners

in natural resource management best practices;• Development of sustainable forest management plans;• Non-timber forest products analysis and training by the Nature Conservation

Research Center;• Communications outreach and environmental education theater production

by the Wild Chimpanzee Foundation;• Piloting of a community based carbon monitoring method;• GIS training; and• Establishment of the transboundary Gola Rainforest National Park through a

grant to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

STEWARD Goal

The overall goal of the STEWARD program is to promote transboundary, landscape-scale strategies for, and promising approaches to, sustainable natural resource management, improved livelihoods, biodiversity conservation, and climate change adaptation and mitigation in priority zones in the Upper Guinean Forest ecosystem. STEWARD activities include building capacity for regional collaboration on biodi-versity conservation, sustainable agriculture, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), and harmonization of national policies for improved ecosystems and natural re-source management in transboundary priority zones in the Mano River Union States (Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia and Sierra Leone). The STEWARD priority zones are; 1) Sierra Leone (Outamba-Kilimi National Park) / Guinea (Madina Oula, Soya and Ouré Kaba sub prefectures and 2) Guinea and Côte d’Ivoire (Mount Nimba) / Libe-ria (East Nimba Nature Reserve) and 3) (potentially) Ziama - Wonegisi straddling the border between Guinea and Liberia.

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STEWARD Priority Zones

Mano River Union countries showing location of PZ1 and PZ2 and proposed

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The depiction and use of boundaries, names andassociated data shown here do not imply endorsementor acceptance by USAID, USFS or STEWARD and itspartnersProduced by Thomson Reuters for the STEWARD Project

Map Filename: STEWARD3_PMA_STEWARDPriorityZonesCoordinate System: GCS WGS 1984Datum: WGS 1984Units: Degree

Date Created/Last Updated 15/11/2012

Data Sources:Topography and Admin: DIVA, STEWARD, SLIS, Conservation International and WINROCK via USGSPZ Definition: STEWARD and FFI/ERABiosphere: FFI/ERA

AUDER (United Actors for Rural Development)AUDER activities are geared towards promoting sustainable agri-culture and livelihoods in the rural areas surrounding the Nimba Mountains in Guinea and Ivory Coast. AUDER has extensive expe-rience in participatory community development. Activities include; strengthening the capacities of communities and stakeholders for sustainable participatory development; improving land manage-ment to conserve biodiversity and combat climate change; and improve productivity of agricultural and fish production systems and diversify incomes to enhance food security.

BioclimateBioclimate is a non-profit organization based in Edinburgh, Scot-land, with a West Africa office in Sierra Leone. It strives to improve the livelihoods of rural communities by helping them manage natural resources sustainably and access markets for ecosystem services. Within the STEWARD program, Bioclimate is working with local communities adjacent to Outamba/Kilimi National Park in Sierra Leone and Madina Oula/Oure Kaba and Soya sub-prefectures Guinea, Priority Zone 1 (PZ1) to integrate a system of Community Payments for Environmental Services (Community PES) with community-based forest management. This incentive-based approach aims to bring about lasting change in local land use and livelihoods through improved governance and management of natural resources, the promotion of small village enterprise and equitable sharing of PES benefits to help meet community health and development needs. Bioclimate is a partnering with CARE Sierra Leone in PZ1.

CARECARE International has been fighting poverty for 50 years and works to enhance economic opportunities and sustainable liveli-hoods of communities living adjacent to and in the buffer zones of Outamba/Kilimi National Park in Sierra Leone and Madina Oula/Oure Kaba and Soya sub-prefectures Guinea (PZ1). CARE’s activities support the conservation and sustainable management of the biodiversity and natural resources base of the area. In the STEWARD program, CARE is partnering with Bioclimate in PZ1 and works with several other partners (PRIDE, Sierra Leone Conserva-tion Society, and Cornell University) to share knowledge and build local capacity through information gathering, documentation and dissemination of lessons learned and best practices of sustainable livelihoods and natural resource management.

FFIFFI works to establish responsive and replicable management models that promote ecological integrity of the Nimba Mountains and enhance the well-being of local people facing increasing threats from human activities including subsistence pressures, mining operations and climate change. FFI aims to do so mainly by improving collaboration between all stakeholders associated with the Nimba Mountains and establishment of harmonized poli-cies and legal frameworks for natural resource management in the region.

PCI Media ImpactPCI Media Impact is an international leader in supporting social change through communication by designing and implementing media messages both to entertain and educate. This increases audience members’ knowledge about an issue, creates favorable attitudes and changes behavior. Under the STEWARD program, PCI Media Impact will equip and empower stakeholders within the Mano River Union to use Entertainment-Education and social marketing communications approaches to enhance the program's impact and support base and catalyze change among target communities. Its communication activities, mainly through a radio drama program and an awareness campaign will enhance local knowledge and understanding about natural resource manage-ment, biodiversity conservation, climate change and WASH.

Thomson ReutersThomson Reuters has been tasked with coordinating the Geo-graphic Information System (GIS) for STEWARD and its partners through establishing GIS centers and documenting customary land rights in selected communities of the project Priority Zones (PZs) in the region. Apart from training, field staff, partners and government agencies in GIS and GPS, they will establish a GIS Center in Freetown and replicate the GIS Centre activities within the Manu River Union states. Thomson Reuters will also undertake Pilot Community and Land Rights Mapping (documenting land and resource information) and support for the GIS user commu-nity in Sierra Leone.

STEWARD Partners

STEWARD implements activities through various stakeholders and partner organizations. Stakeholders include the Mano River Union, conservation authorities in the Mano River Union states, local and traditional authorities, communities and the private sector part-ners. The implementing partners funded by the STEWARD program are:

STEWARD Activities Through its stakeholders and implementing partners STEWARD will:

• Improve policy and legal frameworks for natural resources manage-ment, biodiversity conservation and climate change throughout the Mano River Union (MRU);

• Assist in the development and implementation of forest management plans on community lands and in protected areas to promote biodi-versity conservation;

• Improve the capacity of forest-dependent communities and institutions to mitigate and adapt to the adverse effects of climate change;

• Promote sustainable livelihoods in communities adjacent to forests and within buffer zones;

• Develop climate-resilient Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sys-tems and services among rural populations;

• Monitor program impact on land use and land cover change using remote sensing and satellite image analyses;

• Develop viable Payment for Ecosystem Service (PES) models including Carbon Finance; and

• Develop viable and sustainable Non-Timber Forest Products value chains.

All activities are coordinated by the USFS/IP through their project office in Freetown in collaboration with the USAID/West Africa Mission, implement-ing partners, national governments, and other relevant partners. For more information, please contact us at info@stewardprogram.com.