Consultation and management bodies

Though placed under the authority of the Ministry of the Environment and Forestry (MINEF), the Programme enjoys autonomy in relation to the organisational set up of the Ministry.

Three consultative bodies have been created to guide the execution of the Programme :

• Steering Committee
• Local Site Monitoring Committee
• BIOGENIC network.

A Steering Committee (SC) was created as a supreme body to oversee the co-ordination and management of the activities of the entire Programme. It is chaired by the Minister of the Environment and Forestry. The SC, whose secretarial duties are carried out by the Executive Secretariat of the Programme, is made up of representatives of MINEF and of other ministries concerned, funding bodies and executing agencies. Its mission is to provide general guidelines, approve annual workplans and budgets for the Programme, ensure that the Programme’s activities are in line with national policies and follow up reports on field activities.

The Local Site Monitoring Committee (LSMC) is a consultation and information structure at local level. The Provincial Governor chairs the LSMC, while the Provincial Delegate of MINEF carries out secretarial duties and its members include the Cameroonian counterpart and the Chief Technical Adviser of the site, other Provincial Delegates concerned, elected representatives of the people and economic operators. The LSMC is charged with examining the site’s workplan, inform on, plan and take into account the project’s actions in regional development and follow government policy on biodiversity conservation.

A network of experts in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) called BIOGENIC (Biodiversity GIS Experts Network in Cameroon) was created in Kribi on 9 August 2001. This network’s objectives are to harmonise methods, tools and approaches of designing databases in the various sites and institutions, and to work towards the creation and furnishing of a Biodiversity Information System of Cameroon (SIBC).

Besides the above-mentioned consultation structures, the Programme also has two types of management structures:

• Executive Secretariat
• Site Management Committees.

The Executive Secretariat is the executive body of the Programme at national level. It receives all necessary directives and delegations from the Steering Committee.

At the level of the priority sites, a Site Management Committee was created, chaired by a MINEF representative, the Cameroonian counterpart of the site. The other members include the Chief Technical Adviser and the Project Managers of the executing agencies. In terms of hierarchy, the site co-ordination is attached to the Executive Secretariat and is answerable before the Steering Committee.

Introduction
Legal framework
Objectives of the Cameroon Biodiversity Conservation and Management Programme
Partners of the Programme
Operational structure
Consultation and management bodies