VPA Evidence Gathering

After 10 years since the first VPA entered into force there is increasing scrutiny of VPAs and need to demonstrate progress and impacts. This is particularly the case following recommendations of the FLEGT Action Plan evaluation and court of auditors report published in 2015/16. The European Commission (EC) is supporting initiatives to strengthen monitoring on various levels: • A theory of change (ToC) including indicators is developed for the FLEGT Action Plan; • Implementing partners (e.g. FAO-FLEGT and EU FLEGT Facility) are continuously improving their monitoring systems, and; • More resources are spent to foster the impact monitoring commitments in VPA countries. While FLEGT licensing is one of the ultimate goals of a VPA, it requires the country to conduct thorough and lengthy reform processes in the forestry sector. These processes likely have brought about significant changes and impacts in the countries’ forestry sector, both positive and possibly also negative. These impacts have partly been analyzed and documented, e.g. through studies, preliminary impact monitoring frameworks and monitoring systems of international organizations supporting FLEGT. However, these are often scattered amongst various specific thematic and geographic areas and individual projects. Furthermore, there are likely many impacts of FLEGT VPAs that are not yet documented at all. Consequently, there is an immediate need to gather, assess and demonstrate impacts of FLEGT-VPAs in a comprehensive way, providing both quantitative and qualitative evidence. This impact information will also be an important contribution to provide evidence towards the indicators of the FLEGT Action Plan ToC.


Project Details
Country CAMEROON
Start date 2019.02.02
End date 2019.06.30
Client CIFOR
Sector RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Sub-sector Environment - Climate
Ref. ADE A601