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 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: 13 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 Comoe – 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.
-
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 conduct a self-assessment addressing the structuring of projects for the preservation, restoration, and valorization of protected areas and spaces, as well as the consideration of beneficiaries in the project management process.
- Remote activities, in digital format: Facilitation of a WhatsApp group; Organization of collective video conferences containing information about the project’s progress and updates from the communities.
- One technical gathering in a francophone member territory per year.
- A political-technical gathering in France, focusing on sustainable tourism and reciprocity in cooperation projects.
- 10 participatory thematic webinars will be offered throughout the project on specific topics.
- Sessions at Biodiversity Convention 2024, and Climate convention 2030.
- A closing seminar for Assessment and Perspectives at the end of the program.
Cross-cutting Action: Project communication.
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”.
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. 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.
Stay Tuned
Related Events
Join us!
We welcome our regions members to participate in Projects on Climate Change and Biodiversity
Do not hesitate to contact us!
Héloïse Chicou, responsible
of this project:
Héloïse Chicou
Climate Action and Resilience Programme Manager
climate@regions4.org