The Forest we want: a Roadmap for sustainable management of Ekiti Forests 2021-2035.

This Roadmap report moves from an approach focusing on climate change mitigation, environmental services, sustainable exploitation and livelihoods and identifies the central pillars which can inform a longterm strategy to bring State forest resources back to their rightful central place as a vector of environmental, economic and human development. In order to achieve its goals, this Roadmap report addresses towards private sectors, communities, non-governmental organisations and the wider public including women and youth. The Roadmap provides an ambitious vision for the development of forest resources of the State by 2035, with deliberate actions at the ownership (public/private), community associations, community leadership, non-governmental associations, the consumers and donor levels; a sustainable management of all types of forests and trees outside forests by halting deforestation and forest degradation, ensuring more transparent forest governance and injecting a huge investment funds for forest restoration.
The content of the report follows this scheme: 1) vision, mission, strategy and guiding principles; 2) introduction, including: references to international conventions, treaties and agreements, and list of the following criteria for tracking progress in sustainable forest management: extent of forest resources, timber extraction and exploitation, biological diversity, forest health and vitality, productive and protective functions of forests, socio-economic functions, legal, policy and institutional framework; 3) forest base and its importance to Ekiti people and the sustainable development goals; 4) the following Ekiti forest goals and targets: - reclaim the loss of forest reserve estates; map and assess forest stock and reverse the loss of forest stocks to a level that restores ecosystem services for more than half of the deforested reserves by 2035; - promote sustainable forest governance and trade; - enhance forest based economic and social benefits including small and medium wood and non-wood value chain enterprises; - increase areas of protected forests; - conduct research to increase the understanding of sustainable forest management application; - mobilise significantly new and additional resources for implementation of the roadmap; - monitor assess and report progress; - communicate benefit and achievements; 5) implementation framework; 6) review of the Roadmap for mid-term assessment by 2026/27.