NARM 2018, IFSA

NORTH AFRICAN REGIONAL MEETING

With the target of ending poverty, reduce inequality and protect the planet by 2030, the SDGs
with its 17 global goals are the most ambitious global agenda ever. The fifteenth global goal is to
“Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage
forests, combat desertification and halt and reverse land degradation, and halt biodiversity
loss.” This is very important to management of African forests and protection of its natural
diversity.
Africa remains the youngest continent in the world with about 80 percent of its population is
youth. Despite this, many African countries are faced with poverty, political instability and
environmental degradation. These pose significant challenges to achieving the global goals
within the target 15 years.
It is not gainsaying that today’s generation of youth is the largest the world has ever known. This
is because around ninety per cent of young people are living in developing countries, mainly
Asia and Africa. Young Africans are therefore an incredible resource toward achieving the UN-
SDGs. In other words, there’s a genuine opportunity for African countries to achieve SDGs if
African youth are well informed and fully engaged in development programs.
The 2018 Northern Africa Regional Meeting (NARM) of International Forestry Students’
Association (IFSA) is specially planned to engage, informed and create awareness among
African youths, especially young foresters and professionals on the global goals as highlighted in
SDGs. The meeting will create a meeting point and forum to engage in intellectual discourse
among youth, professionals and general public interested in protection and sustainable
management of African forests for the present and future generations.

Goal of the Meeting
The forum is aimed at engaging forestry students, young professionals and general public in
intellectual discourse on how African youths can contribute to achieving the global goals within
the context of SDGs. Most importantly, the roles of forestry students, young forestry
professionals and other related discipline will be identified through paper presentations, panel
discussions, technical sessions, field trips as well as capacity building workshops.
Objectives
– To create awareness of the 17 global goals of SDGs and its relevance to sustainable
management of African tropical forests.
– To create forum for intellectual discourse that makes African youth identify their roles
and contributions to achieving SDGs.
– To facilitate and initiate networking among youth pertinent for future research
collaborative and activities leading to sustainable management of natural resources.
– To build and strengthen capacities of youths leading to achieving global goals.
Strategies
The meeting will be specially organized to include the following key activities:
– Arrange technical sessions and panel discussions on selected scientific papers.
– Organized forum between young and professional foresters, as well as relevant key
stakeholders and government officials to engage in intellectual discourse on topical SDGs
issues.
– Capacity building workshop and training by sustainable development experts.
– Field trips to expose participants to sites on sustainable management of forests, and
activities that facilitate social and cultural interaction, and networking.
Key topics and Sub-themes of the Meeting
 Forest and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): the roles of forests and trees, as well
as contribution of African youths toward achieving the targets of SDGs.
 Forest for Sustainable Livelihoods: the central roles of forests and trees in sustenance of urban and rural livelihoods.
 Green Energy: introduction and adoption of environmental friendly energy as well as
energy and power saving technologies as substitutes to fossil, biomass and other forms of
energy.
 Urban Forestry: significance of forests, trees and other vegetation components within cities
and urban settlement and their contributions in protection and conservation in addition to
aesthetic values.
 Eco-tourism Development: awareness and sensitization on potentials of protected areas
(national parks, game reserves, wildlife sanctuaries, etc) and other flora and fauna
 Forest and Climate Change: the contribution of forests to mitigation and adaptation of
climate change.
 Ecosystem Services: contributions and potentials of ecosystem services for sustenance of
live on earth and generating interests among the youths.
Venue of the meeting
The meeting will be held at University of Ilorin. The University is located in Ilorin which is the
Capital City of Kwara State and located at central region of Nigeria. Kwara State is tagged “State
of Harmony”, while Ilorin is one of the ancient cities in Nigeria and known for its rich culture
and peaceful co-existence among the people. The participants will enjoy the rich culture, cuisine
and beautiful landscape of the University as well as visit tourist sites such as Owu Water Fall,
Esie Museum among others.
Expected outcome
– Participants and general public will be sensitized on the connection between the
Sustainable Development Goals and diverse African forests.
– The central roles of youth in achieving SDGs will be identified and clearly defined.
– Capacity building of young foresters who will serve as ambassadors toward achieving the
Global Goals.
– Bridging information and communication gaps on SDGs thereby limiting knowledge
deficiencies on achieving the 15 year target.

Expected Participants
NARM 2018 is open to 200 Forestry students, young professionals and general public from
Ghana, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Nigeria,
Rwanda as well as other participants from different regions and other interested stakeholders.
Publicity
 The created official website of the meeting is: www.narm18.wordpress.com.
 Updates on NARM18 will also be launched on the following social media platform:
Facebook: NARM18 and twitter: @NARM18.
 Information would also be shared via WhatsApp groups.
Local Organising Committee
The University of Ilorin Forestry Students’ Association (UFSA UNILORIN LC) on behalf of
International Forestry Students Association (IFSA) would organize the 2018 Northern Africa
Regional meeting.
Highlights
– Accommodation: Hotels in Ilorin.
– Excursion sites: UNILORIN Zoo, Owu water-falls and Esie museum
– Conference Venue: Auditorium of the University of Ilorin.
– Student presentations may be in parallel sessions at different venues depending on the
number of papers received.
– Workshops sessions would focus on capacity building training and will be free for all the
registered participants to attend.

• Date: June 4, 2018 - June 8, 2018