COOP’R Project : building capacity to preserve natural areas in Francophone African Regions
COOP’R in brief
The COOP’R project aims to promote inter-regional cooperation between 15 regions in West Africa, for the development of the economic and social welfare of the French-speaking territories with respect to Biodiversity and Climate Change in protected areas.
Title: COOP’R – Promoting inter-regional cooperation for the development of the economic and social aspects of the French-speaking territories with respect to Biodiversity and Climate Change in protected areas.
Lead partner: L’Association internationale des Régions francophones (AIRF)
Other partners: La Fédération nationale des Parcs naturels régionaux (Federation of French Regional Parcs) and Regions4
Objectives: The COOP’R project aims to create a leverage effect for local authorities’ policies and projects of Francophone territorial territories aimed at preserving, restoring and enhancing protected and other areas natural areas by contributing to their economic and social development and by encouraging the Women’s leadership in integrated biodiversity and services management ecosystems, within the framework of interregional cooperation in the French-speaking world.
Regional area concerned: France and West Francophone Africa (Benin, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Morrocco and Senegal).
Duration: 2 years (2024 – 2025)
Associated regions: 15 confirmed local authorities for West Africa: Cotes d’Ivoire, Senegal, Cameroon, Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, France, Marocco
Regions4 or RegionsAdapt members associated: Louga, Gossas, Région Fès-Meknès, Sud Comoé– Ivory Coast, Communes Plateau Bénin
French regions associated: la Région Grand Est, le Parc naturel régional Montagne de Reims, and le Parc naturel régional du Vercors.
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Role and engagement of Regions4 as a technical partner
- Shared expertise and experience in terms of adaptation to climate change and biodiversity at the regional level: Review of the content of workshops/webinars to strengthen capacities in Africa, participation and contribution on the ground, and facilitate the participation of member regions.
- Promote the sharing of good practices, tools and case studies: connect with communities of practice RegionsAdapt, and by RegionsWithNature, an exchange platform on biodiversity in order to promote exchanges of expertise between pairs and solutions to common challenges.
- External promotion of the work of the COOP’R project: Dissemination of results and communication within the bodies of the UN and other African regions and the world (COP29, 30, COP16). A valorization of exchanges within the joint social media campaign for COP30 and during the sharing of experiences during the COPs.
- Promote replicability and scaling Visibility and dissemination of good practices, inclusion of case studies of local authority projects in the database Biodiversity Case Study Database, actions to communicate the objectives and results of the COOP’R project with all member regions within RegionsAdapt communities of practice. Sharing and promoting the project COOP’R towards the other French-speaking African regions of the Regions4 network.
- To learn more about the project visit the AIRF website here.
Discover this project
Purpose and Activities of the Project
5 actions over 2 years will be carried out from November 2023 to July 2025:
Each participating community will carry out a self-assessment to evaluate how their projects support the preservation and restoration of protected areas, and how they include local beneficiaries in project management.
To foster collaboration and communication, remote activities will include a WhatsApp group and regular video calls to share project updates.
In-person activities will feature:
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One annual technical meeting in a French-speaking territory
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A political-technical gathering in France focused on sustainable tourism and international cooperation.
Throughout the project, 10 participatory webinars on key topics will be held. The initiative will also be present at major global events, including the 2024 Biodiversity Convention and the 2030 Climate Convention.
The program will conclude with a final seminar to reflect on outcomes and future directions.
This project is co-financed (50%) by the Delegation for External Action of Territorial Communities (DAECT) of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MEAE) under the triennial call for projects “Clés en mains 2023-2025”.
The local authorities involved in this project are:
- Benin: Association of communes of the Atlantic and Littoral (ACAL), Association for the Promotion of Intercommunality in the Department of Alibori (APIDA), Community of communes of Plateau (CCP), Groupement Intercommunal du Mono (GI -Mono);
- Cameroon: Western Regional Council;
- Ivory Coast: Kabadougou Regional Council, Sud Comoé Regional Council, Tchologo Regional Council;
- France: Grand-Est Regional Council, the South Provence-Alpes Côte d’Azur Region (promoting experiences in cooperation with the Tangier Tétouan Al-Hoceima Region, Morocco and the Djiboutian Regions); the Massif de Bauges and Vercors regional natural parks;
- Morocco: Béni-Mellal-Khénifra Regional Council, Fès Meknes Regional Council, Oriental Regional Council;
- Senegal: Gossas Departmental Council, Louga Departmental Council.
Events and stories impact
Learning and building capacity at Guinée Conakry workshops
The members and partners of the COOP’R project met the week of the 22nd of April 2024, to exchange on good practices to allow for the preservation of natural areas, looking at how to protect trees and reforest, develop sustainable agriculture practices and adapt to Climate change and learn from the successful PROTEMO project. The team, led by AIRF, and the Federation of Natural Parcs in France, allowed for field visits to learn from projects undertaken on the grown.
Learning and building capacity in West Cameroun
The members and partners of the COOP’R project met the week of the 13 – 18th of April 2025 to learn from sustainable eco-tourism practices developed in West Cameroon, notably looking towards the preservation of Mount Mbapit, Metche Falls, and their surrounding biodiversity.
Capacity building webinars
In 2024 and 2025, the project organized 10 virtual webinars to build capacity of participating regions around managing conflict of interested within protected areas, developping sustainable economic activities and tourism, protection from climate change and biodiversity loss.
Stories of impact and projects that can be strenghtened
Consult here the leading stories of impact and projects that could be replicated and strenghtened of participating members (available in french and english)
Explore Stories of COOP'R members in RegionsVoice
Related Events
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Héloïse Chicou, responsible
of this project:
Héloïse Chicou
Climate Action and Resilience Programme Manager
climate@regions4.org