Zambia Community Based Natural Resource Management Forum

Summary

The Zambia Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) Forum was established in 2004 with the support of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Zambia office and formally launched in 2005 by the then Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources. The CBNRM Forum sits on the REDD+ Steering Committee as a representative of civil society and has been involved in stakeholder engagement for REDD+ at the national level. It is an umbrella organisation for Community Based Organisations (CBOs) or institutions with interest in or supportive of CBNRM in Zambia. The Forum consists of over 150 institutions and members, ranging from CBOs to government and private sector institutions. It is a voluntary non-partisan forum based on membership, which has been set up for the purpose of providing a platform for CBNRM discourse, debate and development. The overall goal of the Forum is to influence the formulation of CBNRM related policies, implementation and coordination of CBNRM interventions through strategic partnerships, consultation and networking.

The Forum is supported by 5 Thematic Working Groups. These are: 1) Policy and Legislation - that focuses on analysing and identifying gaps in policy, such as the Mining, Forestry and Wildlife Policy, and on establishing ways of integrating CBNRM and equitable benefit sharing arrangements within these frameworks; 2) Management Oriented Monitoring Systems (MOMS); 3) Performance Monitoring and Evaluation (PME), which seeks to evaluate impact of CBNRM policy in Zambia through a participatory approach, involving relevant stakeholders; 4) Community Based Enterprise Development combined with CBO Institutional Capacity Building which focuses on ways of increasing profitability of community-based enterprises and enhancing conservation; 5) CBNRM Training - focuses on building capacity through CBNRM-designed courses and trainings, including diploma and certification courses. The CBNRM Training Working Group includes some aspects of REDD+, but there are no specific courses designated for REDD+.