ITTO Project PD 479/07 Rev. 2 (M)

TIMBERS OF TROPICAL AFRICA Part 2 Group 7(2) within PROTA programme

Completion Report

1 January 2009- 31 June 2012

i

ACROYNMS

CABI - Commonwealth Agricultural Bureau International

CENAREST - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique et Technologique

CNSF - Centre National de Semences Forestières

CTA - Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation

FORIG - Forestry Research Institute of Ghana

GDP - Gross Domestic Product

GFIS - Global Forest Information Service

ICRAF - World Agroforestry Centre

ITTA - International Tropical Timber Agreement

ITTC - International Tropical Timber Council

ITTO - International Tropical Timber Organisation

IUFRO - International Union of Forest Research Organisations

PROSEA - Plant Resources of South-East Asia

PROTA - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa

PSC - Project Steering Committee

UK - United Kingdom

UNCED - United Nations Conference on Environment and Development

WU - Wageningen University

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Preface The completion report of ITTO project PD 479/07 Rev.2 (M,I) Timbers of Tropical Africa Part 11

(Group 7(2)) within the PROTA programme has been prepared in accordance with the ITTO

format in Annex D of the ITTO Manual for Project Monitoring, Review and Evaluation of May

1999.

The timbers are the second largest group among the 16 PROTA commodity groups. Because of the

large number of species in the group the knowledge synthesis was subdivided into two parts.

Timbers 1 (ITTO Project PD 264/04) covered 511 timber species and was completed in November

2008, Timbers 2 (ITTO Project PD 479/07) started in January 2009 and ended in June 2012.

The PROTA Foundation, in particular the project’s lead executing institutions (Forestry Research

Institute of Ghana (FORIG), Wageningen University (WU) and Agropolis International (France)),

wish to express their profound gratitude to ITTO for the generous support that enabled the project

team to make such a monumental contribution to knowledge on plant resources in general and

tropical Africa timber species in particular. We are also thankful to the Netherlands Directorate-

General for International Cooperation (DGIS), the Government of Ghana, as well as data

collectors, authors and editors for their support in the implementation of the project.

Colleagues in the PROTA Network Office Europe are gratefully acknowledged for their comments

and inputs in the preparation of the report. Special thanks to Mrs. Stella B. Acquah of PROTA

Anglophone West Africa Regional Office for her help and support during the preparation of the

report.

iii

PROJECT IDENTIFICATION

TITLE:

TIMBERS OF TROPICAL AFRICA PART 11: GROUP 7(2) WITHIN THE PROTA PROGRAMME

SERIAL NUMBER: PD 479/07 Rev.2 (M)

COMMITTEE: ECONOMIC INFORMATION AND MARKET INTELLIGENCE

SUBMITTED BY: GOVERNMENT OF GHANA

ORIGINAL LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

EXECUTING AGENCY: PROTA FOUNDATION, IN COOPERATION WITH THE FORESTRY RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF GHANA (FORIG), WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITY (WU, NETHERLANDS) AND AGROPOLIS INTERNATIONAL (FRANCE)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acronyms .................................................................................................................................... i

Preface ........................................................................................................................................ ii

Project Identification ................................................................................................................. iii

PART 1: - EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...................................................................................... 1

1.1 Background information about project .................................................................... 1

1.1.1 Problem Identification .................................................................................... 1

1.1.2 Objectives and Outputs ................................................................................... 2

1.1.3 Implementation Strategy ................................................................................. 4

1.1.4 Project duration and overall cost ..................................................................... 4

1.2 Project Achievements .............................................................................................. 5

1.2.1 Outputs Achieved............................................................................................ 5

1.2.2 Specific objectives achieved ........................................................................... 6

1.3 Lessons Learned ....................................................................................................... 6

1.3.1 Developmental Lessons .................................................................................. 6

1.3.2 Operational Lessons ........................................................................................ 6

1.4 Recommendations .................................................................................................... 7

PART 2: - MAIN TEXT ............................................................................................................ 9

2.1 Project Content ......................................................................................................... 9

2.1.1 Development Objective ................................................................................ 12

2.1.2 Specific Objectives ....................................................................................... 12

2.1.3 Outputs .......................................................................................................... 12

2.1.4 The strategy adopted in carrying out the project .......................................... 15

2.1.5 Workplan ....................................................................................................... 16

2.1.6 Required Inputs ............................................................................................. 16

2.1.7 Project Adjustments ...................................................................................... 17

2.1.8 ITTO Context of the Project ......................................................................... 18

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2.1.8.1 Compliance with ITTA 1994 objectives ............................................. 18

2.1.8.2 Compliance with ITTO Action Plan ................................................... 20

2.2 Project Context ...................................................................................................... 20

2.3 Project Design and organisation ............................................................................ 22

2.3.1 Project Beneficiaries ..................................................................................... 22

2.3.2 Project Coordination ..................................................................................... 23

2.4 Project Implementation .......................................................................................... 24

2.4.1 The most critical differences between planned and actual project implementation……………………………………………………………. .24

2.4.2 Measures and actions that could have avoided the variations ...................... 25

2.4.3 Project Sustainability .................................................................................... 25

2.4.4 Appropriateness of project’s inputs .............................................................. 25

2.5 Project Results ....................................................................................................... 26

2.5.1 The situation existing at project completion compared to pre project

phase……………………………………………………………………….26

2.5.1.1 Capacity building in wood anatomy .................................................... 26

2.5.1.2 Capacity building in editing ................................................................. 26

2.5.2 Extent to which the projects specific objectives were achieved ................... 27

2.5.3 Impact of project’s results ............................................................................. 27

2.6 Synthesis of results ................................................................................................ 28

PART 3: - CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS................................................. 29

3.1 Development Lessons ........................................................................................... 29

3.2 Operational Lessons ............................................................................................... 29

3.3 Recommendations related to future projects ......................................................... 30

Responsible for the Report....................................................................................................... 32

1

PART 1: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1.1 BACKGROUND INFORMATION ABOUT PROJECT 1.1.1 Problem Identification PROTA (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa) is an ‘information brokerage’ programme initiated in

2000 to gather and disseminate dispersed information on 7000+ useful plants of tropical Africa.

The UNCED-Forest Principles acknowledged information as priority for the implementation of

agenda 21. Although enormous amounts of information on plants, forests and natural resources are

generated, substantial parts remain inaccessible to users. The major problem facing information

seekers is the location of information sources corresponding to their needs. With the rapidly

growing number of websites containing information on plant resources and related information, it

is a huge task searching for relevant information. Even the best search engines are incapable of

locating all pertinent sites.

PROTA goal is to collect, collate and synthesize the existing wealth of dispersed information on

7,000+ useful plants of Tropical Africa, and to make it available for education, extension work,

research and industry in the form of a web database, an illustrated multivolume handbook, CD-

ROMs and derived products in two languages- English and French. The 7,000+ useful plant

species are subdivided into 16 commodity groups as listed and categorized in the PROTA ‘Basic

list’. The Timbers is one of the most important commodity groups and over 1,000 species were

listed to be described in two volumes.

In Tropical Africa timber trees constitute a major element of the natural vegetation, and in a large

number of economies, earnings from timber exports constitute important part of the country’s

foreign earnings. In Ghana for instance the timber industry accounts for 6-7 percent of Gross

Domestic Product (GDP), and support the livelihoods of over a third of the 24 million population.

The present exploitation of natural forest for timber, shifting cultivation and other human

activities, may lead to the total destruction of tropical forests if not properly complemented by

programmes ensuring sustainable exploitation. Fortunately, efforts to protect and conserve tropical

forests have worldwide support. Not only are alternatives for the use of forest resources (e.g. fuel-

2

wood farming) considered and developed, but also generation of alternative sources of income for

the local population is being promoted. Beside improved silvicultural management of natural

forests, cultivation of valuable timbers is being encouraged. Commercialization of other products

produced by timber trees (e.g. edible fruits and nuts, resin and other exudates, medicines, fibres,

essential oils, dyes and tannins) may give additional income to forest village communities and may

protect forests from destruction.

For trials on species cultivation, knowledge concerning ecological requirements, seed production

and longevity, methods of propagation, growth and development, productivity and diseases and

pests is a necessity. To promote the conservation of tropical forests or to decide on export and

exploitation restrictions of timber species, knowledge on the characteristics of the tree species

growth, natural regeneration and natural enemies is necessary. All these efforts should start from

the same sound base: up-to-date knowledge of the tree and its habitat.

The development objective of PD 479/07 Rev.2 (M) was to improve access to interdisciplinary

data on the timbers of Tropical Africa as a basis for sustainable tropical forest management, and to

improve networking leading to better cooperation and information exchange among forestry

actors.

1.1.2 Objectives and Outputs

The three specific objectives as described in the project document are:

To gather, evaluate and synthesize the dispersed information on the ‘Timbers of Tropical

Africa’ through improved networking.

To facilitate wide access of target beneficiaries to the information on the ‘Timbers of

Tropical Africa’ in electronic and printed forms.

To contribute to networking and capacity building in tropical Africa in the fields of scientific

editing and wood anatomy

The overall project outputs were achieved, although there were some variations to the initial

targets set. In most cases the targets were exceeded.

3

Specific objective 1: Information gathering, evaluation and synthesis through networking

- Output 1.1: WORLDREFS–TIMBERS: Supporting database of international literature on the

‘Timbers of Tropical Africa’ (Target – 7000 records)

- Output 1.2: AFRIREFS–TIMBERS: Supporting database of ‘grey’ local literature on the

‘Timbers of Tropical Africa’ (Target – 440 records)

- Output 1.3: EXPERTISE–TIMBERS: Supporting database serving as Directory of Experts

on the ‘Timbers of Tropical Africa’ (Target – 72 records)

- Output 1.4: IMAGEFILE–TIMBERS: Supporting database with illustration material

(drawings, maps, photographs) on the ‘Timbers of Tropical Africa’ (Target – 800 records)

- Output 1.5: TEXTFILE–TIMBERS: About 350 state-of-the-art review articles (English

version) on the ‘Timbers of Tropical Africa’ (species in the more important timber-producing

taxonomic families)

- Output 1.6 TRANSLATION–TIMBERS: French version of Textfile

Specific Objective 2: Facilitating access to the information in electronic and printed forms

- Output 2.1: WEBDATABASE–TIMBERS (English & French): Webdatabase ‘Timbers of

Tropical Africa’: 320 Textfile, 800 Imagefile records (150 drawings, 150 geographic

distribution maps, 150 x 3 microphotographs, 150 x 3 habit photographs)

- Output 2.2: HANDBOOK–TIMBERS (English & French editions): Volume PROTA 7(2) on

the ‘Timbers of Tropical Africa’: 600 pages, 320 Textfile, 800 Imagefile records (150

drawings, 150 geographic distribution maps, 150 x 3 microphotographs)

- Output 2.3: CD–TIMBERS (English & French): CD-ROM on the ‘Timbers of Tropical

Africa’: 320 Textfile, 800 Imagefile records (150 drawings, 150 geographic distribution

maps, 150 x 3 microphotographs, 150 x 3 habit photographs).

4

Specific Objective 3: Contribute to networking and capacity building in editing and wood anatomy.

Output 3.1: Capacity in writing and editing strengthened. Two key project personnel from

institutions in Africa benefited from on the job training in editing.

Output 3.2: Capacity in wood anatomy strengthened. A 2-week intensive wood anatomy

workshop organised by world class wood anatomists for 12 young researchers from

institutions across Africa.

1.1.3 Implementation Strategy

The commodity group approach used by the PROTA programme was employed in this project.

The approach allows for focusing both human and material resources available to the PROTA

programme on few commodities at any point in time. As a result considerable progress was made

and the number of species covered during the project exceeded the planned target.

1.1.4 Project duration and overall cost

The project duration as stated in the project document was 36 months starting from January 2009

to December 2011. However due to practical challenges faced in the course of project

implementation, the executing agencies requested for a six month budget neutral extension

which was approved by the Executive Director of ITTO as per letter dated 22 September 2011.

The project was substantially concluded on 30th June 2012 in compliance with the approved

extended period.

The total project budget of US$ 1,053,635 including the ITTO contribution of US$ 596,419 (less

US$ 66,806 for ITTO monitoring and support costs) has been efficiently spent and yearly

audited financial statements have been submitted to ITTO headquarters in Yokohama. The funds

provided by ITTO and other donors as described in the project document are as follows:

5

SOURCE CONTRIBUTION IN US$

ITTO 596,419

(511,080 net)

PROTA 457,216

TOTAL 1,053,635

1.2 PROJECT ACHIEVEMENTS

The project’s output achievements were strongly linked to the specific objectives as detailed in the

project document and presented as outputs 1.1-1.6 , 2.1-2.3 and 3.1-3.2.

The project had a good start because most of the plausible teething problems that affect project

take off had been addressed in the first phase project (Timbers 1). Timbers of Tropical Africa Part

II had its formal and informal structures firmly in place, prior to the project start-up.

1.2.1 Outputs Achieved

Specific objective 1: Networking, information gathering, exchange and synthesis

The actual achievements compared to planned targets are presented below.

Specific Objective 2: Wide access to the information in electronic and printed forms

314 validated textfile review articles on 693 species (English and French) have been inserted in the

web database, Protabase. The sources of verification indicated in the log frame are the number of

Output Target Actual

1.1 Worldrefs 7,000 8,300

1.2 Afrirefs 440 580

1.3 Expertise 7 392

1.4 Imagefile 800 1,060

1.5 Textfile (species) 500 700

1.6 Translation process 500 700

6

records in the web database. At the homepage www.prota.org, information seekers can search

PROTABASE. The 314 review articles have also been published in an English book (804 pp.) and

a French book (885 pp.), in a print run of 1,200 and 1,140 copies respectively. It will be distributed

by CTA to African subscribers (600) and by Earthprint (400). 200 complimentary copies of the

English book and 140 copies of the French book will be distributed by PROTA including 50

copies each for ITTO. The bilingual CD, will be distributed in combination with the books. 230

complimentary copies will be distributed by PROTA including a special stand-alone ITTO edition

of 200 copies.

1.2.2 Specific objectives achieved

The project three specific objectives were achieved in an admirable way. Information gathering,

exchange and synthesis were critical activities in the documentation process. The resulting web

database, handbook (in English & French), CD-ROMs have increased access to information on

Timbers of Tropical Africa substantially. Enhanced capacity in editing and wood anatomy would

be beneficial to the researchers and the institutions they are employed.

1.3 LESSONS LEARNED

1.3.1 Developmental Lessons

A documentation project of the magnitude of PD 479/07 Rev.2 (M) is about different actors of

different levels (Coordinators, editors, authors, data collectors) and processes (writing, editing,

printing, translation) and their interaction. We have seen how one element can affect the other.

The varying response rate, the quality of output of different actors could somehow derail

schedules. Many of these can however be overcome when you have an experienced and tested

core team in place. This is the trump card of the PROTA initiative. As part of the larger PROTA

programme, PD 479/07 benefited and had a smooth start due to the fact that the formal and

informal structures and processes for the documentation project were already in place prior to the

project start-up.

1.3.2 Operational Lessons

A six month budget neutral extension was requested. This request was largely due to a decision to

increase timber species coverage from 500 to 700 species. The 40% increase in species coverage

7

more than justify the request for the six month budget neutral extension of the project term. There

were cases of delays in submissions of articles by authors but these were resolved through timely

reminders and expeditious editing by the project’s in-house editors. Funding dislocations on some

of the budget lines were discussed by the Project Steering Committee and addressed through

budget adjustments approved by ITTO.

The project steering committee has been quite serious with its role and ensured that all bottlenecks

likely to derail the smooth implementation of the project were addressed in a timely manner.

While major issues dealing with ITTO policies have been referred to the full house of the steering

committee in the annual meetings, relatively minor issues have been dealt with by executing

agencies charged with the day to day implementation of the project and reported in the annual

meetings.

1.4 RECOMMENDATIONS

In order to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of similar projects the following

recommendations are presented.

Documentation projects of such magnitude involving many authors and processes and their

interaction usually face delivery delays. While this project was largely successful, the delays

experienced could be avoided or minimised in future by identifying back-up authors.

Project implementation should start with a planning workshop involving all key personnel

during which project concepts, workplan, roles and responsibilities and schedule of activities

are discussed by all project partners and personnel. The devolution of responsibilities to others

in the course of the project implementation can cause uneasiness.

The project benefited exceedingly from the experience of the Network Europe team. The

PROTA programme on the whole can benefit exceedingly through a structured capacity

building plan for African partners. The contribution of Mrs Elizabeth Obeng of FORIG to PD

479/07 is sufficient evidence of what capacity building in Africa could achieve. Efforts should

be made to train more Africans in editing in all follow-up PROTA projects.

A number of factors accounted for the success of PD 479/07 Rev.2 (M). These could serve as

lessons for similar documentation projects

8

Pre-project consultative meeting of editors.

Preparation and distribution of comprehensive guide to authors.

Timely payments of honoraria to authors

Firm promise to list the names and affiliations of contributors in the products.

Strict adherence to workplan / timelines

Existence of basic infrastructure for project implementation

9

PART 2: MAIN TEXT

2.1 PROJECT CONTENT

Decision-makers, natural resource managers, students and educators, extension workers and

researchers in Tropical Africa depend on a few botanically oriented and regionally focused

handbooks. Most handbooks treat the plant resources from a single-discipline angle. Research in

tropical agronomy, horticulture, forestry and economic botany is continuing and expanding

rapidly, aided by new techniques. New information on food values, properties, medicinal efficacy

and applications, ecological relations between cultivated and wild plants and related subjects are

mounting. But the new information is dispersed and not readily accessible to those who need them

most. Even the best search engines are not able to direct information seekers to all information

sources. Moreover, the inadequacy of internet services in many African institutions and countries

presents its own difficulties.

What is urgently needed is a modern databank and handbook, providing up-to-date information

about the useful plants of the continent, both cultivated and growing wild. This is the development

objective of the PROTA Programme.

The PROTA programme started in 2000. During the Preparatory Phase 2000-2003, the format and

content of databank and handbook were worked out in sample products (www.prota.org, ‘Basic list

of species and commodity grouping’, ‘PROTA Precursor / Précurseur’). The PROTA Network was

established (11 organizations in 11 countries), international consensus was reached on organization

and set-up through an international Workshop (Proceedings Workshop Nairobi, 2002), and

subsequently PROTA was registered as an international non-profit Foundation in the Netherlands.

Action is underway to extend the PROTA Network through contact persons and data collectors in

catchment countries of nodal countries.

10

For the purpose of PROTA, Tropical Africa covers the 47 countries that for their greater part lie

within the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn (the whole of Africa except 6 countries in North Africa

and 3 countries in southern Africa, but including Madagascar and nearby islands in the Indian

Ocean).

A great majority of the population in Tropical Africa, a total of 800+ million people, largely

depends on the plant cover, the useful plants in particular, for their survival and well-being. Plants

also provide livelihood for over 90% of the people in extreme poverty. The current rate of forest

cover loss in Tropical Africa has tremendous consequences on the livelihood of the poor. In

Tropical Africa, the timber trees constitute a major element of the natural vegetation, and in a large

11

number of economies, exploitation of the timber plays an important role. But illegal extraction of

timber is also having a toll on the forests. For instance in Ghana, illegal timber extraction and

overharvesting account for over 65% of the cost of forest depletion, and 3% GDP. Fortunately,

efforts to protect and conserve tropical forests have worldwide support. Beside improved

silvicultural management of natural forests, cultivation of valuable timbers is being encouraged.

Commercialization of other products produced by timber trees (e.g. edible fruits and nuts, resin

and other exudates, medicines, fibres, essential oils, dyes and tannins) may give additional income

to forest village communities and may protect forests from destruction. For functional plantation

development, knowledge on ecological requirements, species characteristics, propagation

techniques, seed production and longevity, growth and productivity, diseases and pests are

necessity. All these call for up-to-date knowledge on the useful and potentially useful timber

species.

PD 479/07Rev.2 (M) on PROTA 7(2): ‘Timbers 2’ targeted synthesis of information on the 500

timber species. This was to complement knowledge synthesis in PROTA 7(1): ‘Timbers 1’ which

dealt with 511 species in the major taxonomic families, in order to arrive at a complete overview

of the ‘Timbers of Tropical Africa’.

The division of timber species over the 2 parts of PROTA 7 according to taxonomic families has

the advantage of publishing information on related species simultaneously. This is beneficial to

users, but also to the editors from the efficiency point of view. In the Web database however, the

artificial subdivision will disappear.

2.1.1 Development objective

The development objective of the project was to improve access to interdisciplinary data on the

timbers of Tropical Africa as a basis for sustainable tropical forest management, and to improve

networking leading to better cooperation and information exchange between forestry actors. Many

of the documentation on tropical Africa plants presents information from single-discipline angle,

e.g. silviculture and management, distribution and tree ecology, pests and diseases, processing and

utilization. The project brought together these different facets of timber species to aid sustainable

tropical forest management.

12

2.1.2 Specific objectives

The project had two specific objectives

1. To gather, evaluate and synthesize the dispersed information on the ‘Timbers of Tropical

Africa’ through improved networking.

2. To facilitate wide access of target beneficiaries to the information on the ‘Timbers of Tropical

Africa’ in electronic and printed forms.

3. To contribute to networking and capacity building in Tropical Africa in the fields of editing and

wood anatomy

2.1.3 Outputs

2.1.3.1 Specific objective 1: Networking, information gathering, exchange and synthesis.

The targets envisaged and the actual achieved are shown in table below.

2.1.3.2 Specific Objective 2: Wide access to the information in electronic and printed forms

Output 2.1: 314 validated textfile review articles on 6930 species (English and French) have

been inserted in the web database, PROTABASE.

The sources of verification indicated in the logframe are the number of records in the Web

database. At the homepage www.prota.org, information seekers can search PROTABASE.

Output Target Actual

1.1 Worldrefs 7,000 8,300

1.2 Afrirefs 440 580

1.3 Expertise 72 392

1.4 Imagefile 800 1,060

1.5 Textfile (species) 500 693

1.6 Translation process 500 693

13

Output 2.2: The 314 review articles have also been published in an English handbook (804 pp.)

and a French book (885 pp.), in a print run of 1,200 and 1,140 copies respectively. 50 copies of

each will be sent to ITTO for distribution. The Desk-Top-Publishing of ‘Timbers 2’, English

edition, was completed in early July 2012. A formal presentation of a copy of the book to

ITTO and donor(s) will be made during the ITTC in November 2012 in Yokohama, Japan.

The full reference to the book is:

Louppe, D., Oteng-Amoako, A.A. & Brink, M. (Editors), 2012

Plant Resources of Tropical Africa 7(2). Timbers 2.

PROTA Foundation, Wageningen, Netherlands.

Earthprint Publishers, Netherlands.

CTA, Wageningen, Netherlands.

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15

For the English edition CTA will distribute 600 copies, ITTO 50 copies, PROTA 150 copies. The

remainder of 400 is available for commercial distribution by Earthprint Publishers. For the French

edition CTA will distribute 600 copies, ITTO 50 copies, PROTA 90 copies and Earthprint 400

copies.

Output 2.3: The bilingual CD, will be distributed in combination with the books. Special stand-

alone copies of 230 will be distributed by PROTA including 200 copies to ITTO.

Results under the project have become available. The Core products (web database, books, CD-

ROM) have become available. If funding permits market studies and pilot projects would follow.

2.1.4 The strategy adopted in carrying out project

The commodity group approach used in the publication of PROTA handbooks was employed in

the ITTO-funded projects (Timbers 1 and 2). This enables one group to be handled at a time and

allows group specialists (editors) to be assembled and involved in an efficient way. Within the

PROTA Programme, work on 6 Commodity groups (PROTA 1: ‘Cereals and pulses’, PROTA 2:

‘Vegetables’, PROTA 3: ‘Dyes and tannins’, PROTA 14: ‘Vegetable oils’), PROTA 7 (1, 2) and

PROTA16 : “Fibres” have been completed. Work on PROTA 11: Medicinal Plants is partially

completed. The electronic databank is growing at a fast pace (PROTABASE at www.prota.org).

The framework of the PROTA Programme and the lay-out of the web database and Handbooks,

developed during the Preparatory Phase 2000-2003, are soundly based. The projects on 'Timbers 1

and 2' were carried out by experienced PROTA staff members in African and European countries

and an experienced team of editors from institutions linked to the PROTA programme, in this case

especially the Forestry Research Institute of Ghana (FORIG), Agropolis International (France) and

Wageningen University (the Netherlands).

The PROTA Programme is not overlapping but clearly complementary to various taxonomical and

flora projects on the continent. Cooperation is sought with relevant information initiatives such as

IUFRO (GFIS), CABI (Forestry Compendium) and Forestry Research Network of sub-Saharan

Africa (FORNESSA Information Service – FORNIS). About 60% of the authors of the articles are

16

from African institutions. The project has enhanced their visibility to the international community.

The comprehensive guidelines made available to the authors facilitated delivery and improved the

writing skills of many authors. The number of hits on the PROTABASE increased steadily during

the implementation of the Timbers 1 and 2 projects as articles were inserted in the web database.

2.1.5 Workplan

The project agreement between the Government of Ghana and ITTO was signed by Prof. Nii Ashie

Kotey the then Executive Director of Ghana’s Forestry Commission and Emmanuel Ze Meka, the

Executive Director of ITTO. The first yearly workplan was prepared by the project secretariat and

approved by ITTO prior to official start-up. The first tranche of project funds of USD 126,240 was

received in February 2009. The implementation of the project started officially on 1 January 2009.

A proposal for budget neutral adjustments submitted by the project’s General Coordinator was

approved by the Executive Director of ITTO as per letter dated 10 January 2008. The adjusted

amounts per budget lines as applied appeared in the project financial statement submitted to ITTO.

In general the project workplan (output/activity/timelines) was adhered to. The key components of

the work plan were the scanning of the international and grey literature; making Afrirefs and

expertise databases available to authors and editors; surveying and digitising illustration materials;

standardisation of wood anatomical descriptions, translation from English to French, insertion of

textfile / imagefile in Protabase (www.prota.org) and publication of the handbook, CD-ROMs. The

entire project activities were completed in 42 months (from January 1 2009 to June 31, 2012).

2.1.6 Required Inputs

The budget provided by ITTO in total of US$ 596, 419 (including US$ 95,179 ITTO monitoring

and support costs) has been efficiently applied to cover the project implementation. The ITTO

contribution constituted about 57 percent of the total project funding of US$1,053,635.00.Detailed

budget and sources of funds is shown below:

17

SOURCE CONTRIBUTION IN US$

ITTO 596,419

(501,240 net)

PROTA 457,216

TOTAL 1,053,635

The ITTO support was released in five tranches

First Tranche (February 2009) US$ 126,240.00

Second Tranche (February 2010) US$ 100,000.00

Third Tranche (July 2010) US$ 100,000.00

Fourth Tranche (February 2011) US$ 100,000.00

Fifth Tranche (June 2011) US$ 75,000.00

The administration of ITTO funds was in accordance with the prevailing ITTO regulations which

were integrated in the overall PROTA financial administration system. Below is the yearly

expenditure of funds over the three-year project term.

Source Year Expenditure ITTO 2009 EUR 92,610

ITTO 2010 EUR 144,983

ITTO 2011 EUR 120,253

Subtotal EUR 360,706 = US $ 502,361

2.1.7 Project Adjustments

A budget neutral request to ITTO was approved by the Executive Director of ITTO (Mr E. Ze

Meka) as per response dated 22 September 2011.

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2.1.8 ITTO Context of the Project

2.1.8.1 Compliance with ITTA 1994 objectives

The primary goal of the project was to compile up-to-date knowledge on the timbers of Tropical

Africa and to publish it in electronic (Web database, CD-ROM) as well as in printed forms

(Handbook). Information on uses, trade, properties, anatomy, taxonomy, ecology, silviculture,

genetic resources, prospects have been presented. The project output is in compliance with all of

the ITTO Objectives laid down in the International Tropical Timber Agreement (ITTA 1994).

Direct relationships can however be found in the following objectives:

Objective c. To contribute to the process of sustainable development

Objective f. To promote and support research and development with a view of improving forest

management and efficiency of wood utilization as well as increasing the capacity to

conserve and enhance other forest values in timber-producing tropical forests.

Objective g. To develop and contribute towards mechanisms for the provision of new and

additional financial resources and expertise needed to enhance the capacity of

producing members to attain the objectives of this Agreement.

The project complies with six of the criteria for project activities (ITTA, 1994):

Criterion b. Environmental and social effects: the comprehensive approach of the project in

complementing information on the timber aspects with ample attention for the by-

products of the timber trees, contributes to a well-balanced use of natural forests. As

such it contributes to conservation, but also to appropriate returns from sustainable

managed forests for local communities.

Criterion c. Maintaining an appropriate geographical balance: the project was a regional project

(Tropical Africa) in which producer countries closely work together with consumer

countries (European Union members).

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Criterion d. Interests and characteristics of each of the developing producing regions: the

information resulting from the project will complement the ‘Timber’ project done

by PROSEA for South-East Asia. It will serve as an example for a similar

undertaking envisaged for South America.

Criterion e. Equitable distribution of resources among the priority fields: the project covered

diverse areas including wood use, natural forest management, reforestation

development, harvesting, and training of technical personnel and indirectly to the

area of institutional framework and national planning.

Criterion f. Cost-effectiveness: the project made use of the existing infrastructure of the

PROTA Programme including the operational network in Tropical Africa.

Criterion g. Avoid duplication of efforts: the PROTA programme, besides its formal network,

has built up an extensive informal network of contributing institutions and

specialists. Maximum use was made of existing expertise.

2.1.8.2 Compliance with ITTO Action Plan

Information on lesser-known timber species is basic for many aspects of the objectives formulated

in the ITTO Action Plan (1990) and Priorities (e.g. for sustainable forest management, sustainable

production of timber together with non-timber products, training, forest policy, rural development,

etc.).

A priority ITTO objective related to the present project is to arrest the decline and degradation of

tropical forests by incorporating sustainable management practices. All export of tropical timber

products should originate ultimately from sustainable managed forests. Lesser-known timber

species constitute up till now a largely unknown element in sustainable management. PD 479/07

Rev. 2 (M,) and its predecessor project PD 264/04 Rev 3 (M,I) have contributed to the knowledge

base on Lesser-Used species as many of the species dealt with are categorised as LUS.

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Another objective formulated in the ITTO Action Plan concerns the promotion of cooperation

between institutes through networks. The PROTA Network in Tropical Africa and Europe, in

which key research institutions are cooperating and are able to exchange information and

experience, was further expanded in the course of the project through involvement and

participation of many authors in Africa and elsewhere.

The ITTO Action Plan is also directed to enhancing the ability of local communities, particularly

those within or near the forest, to obtain appropriate returns and other benefits from sustainable

managed forests. Regulated collection, cultivation and trade of by-products of the timber trees will

provide employment and income to forest village communities. Up-to-date information on all

aspects of timber species, as was the objective of the project, will ultimately greatly contribute to

reach this goal.

2.2 PROJECT CONTEXT

PROTA (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa) is a similar initiative for Tropical Africa as PROSEA

(Plant Resources of South-East Asia) was for South-East Asia in the 1990s. Both documentation

programmes were initiated in recognition of the difficulty in accessing information on plant

resources in the tropics by decision makers, researchers, students, consultants, environmental

groups, entrepreneurs, donors, landowners, forest managers, media and the general public.

PROSEA/PROTA are ‘information brokerage’ programmes.

The aim of the PROTA Programme as a whole is to document the existing wealth of dispersed

information on the plant resources of Tropical Africa, and to make it available for education,

extension work, research and industry in the form of a Web database, an illustrated multivolume

Handbooks, CD-ROMs and derived products in two languages, English and French. About 7,000

useful species will be dealt with, subdivided into 16 commodity groups as listed and categorized in

the PROTA ‘Basic list’:

Bosch, C.H., Siemonsma, J.S., Lemmens, R.H.M.J. and Oyen, L.P.A. (Editors), 2002. Plant

Resources of Tropical Africa / Ressources Végétales de l’Afrique Tropicale. Basic list of

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species and commodity grouping / Liste de base des espèces et de leurs groupes d’usage.

PROTA Programme, Wageningen, the Netherlands. 341 pp.

The subdivision in Commodity groups is as follows:

PROTA 1: Cereals and pulses / Céréales et légumes secs (completed)

2: Vegetables / Légumes (completed)

3: Dyes and tannins / Colorants et tanins (completed)

4: Ornamentals / Plantes ornementales

5: Forages / Plantes fourragères

6: Fruits / Fruits

7: Timbers / Bois d’œuvre

7(1): Part 1 PD 264/04 Rev. 3 (M,I) (completed)

7(2): Part 2 PD 479/07 Rev. 2 (M) ( completed)

8: Carbohydrates / Sucres et amidons

9: Auxiliary plants / Plantes auxiliaires

10: Fuel plants / Bois de feu

11: Medicinal plants / Plantes médicinales

11(1): Part 1 (completed)

11(2): Part 2 (Near completion)

11(3): Part 3

11(4): Part 4

12: Spices and condiments / Epices et condiments

13: Essential oils and exudates / Huiles essentielles et exsudats

14: Vegetable oils / Oléagineux (completed)

15: Stimulants / Plantes stimulantes

16: Fibres / Plantes à fibres (completed)

The commodity group ‘Timbers' is the second largest group distinguished by PROTA, comprising

over 1,000 primary use species. Another 650 species have ‘timber’ as secondary use, and are dealt

in other commodity groups.

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Because of the large number of species, PROTA 7 was subdivided into two parts:

- 7(1): Timbers 1 (about 511 species in the more important timber-producing taxonomic

families)

- 7(2): Timbers 2 (about 700 species in the currently less important timber-producing taxonomic

families)

PROTA 7(1) was completed as at 31 December 2008 (3 years); PROTA 7(2) which took off in

January 2009 was completed in June 2012.

2.3 PROJECT DESIGN AND ORGANISATION

2.3.1 Project beneficiaries

At the national level, the key beneficiaries are the major timber-producing countries in Tropical

Africa such as Gabon, Cameroon, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire,

Liberia, but also the other countries in Tropical Africa will benefit.

In these countries the direct beneficiaries of the electronic (Webdatabases, CD-ROMs) and printed

output (Books) are those professionally concerned with timbers (in government, research,

education, extension, industry). Within these broad target categories, the key actors have been

identified in the Target Group Address (TGA) system. Also existing directories of ITTO, ATO,

IUFRO were used to identify more beneficiaries.

The strength of the PROTA Programme is that the direct recipients are at the same time the

contributors: a large cross-section of the professionals engaged in the sectors described above

contributed to the core output of the PROTA Programme as editors or authors. For PROTA 7(1)

and 7(2) on the ‘Timbers’, over 100 authors, editors and associate editors were involved.

In due time information will be presented to the indirect beneficiaries (communities depending on

the forest) through specially prepared materials, such as brochures and leaflets, by the extension

service or through other means.

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2.3.2 Project Coordination

The PROTA programme has a board of trustees with representation from each of the eleven

participating institutions, namely – The Forestry Research Institute of Ghana (FORIG), Ghana;

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique et Technologique (CENAREST), Gabon ; Centre

National de Semences Forestières (CNSF), Burkina Faso; Makerere University, Uganda; National

Herbarium and Botanic Gardens (NHBG), (Malawi); Parc Botanique et Zoölogique de Tsimbazaza

(PBZT), Madagascar; Agropolis International, France; Royal Botanic Garden, UK; PROSEA

Foundation, Indonesia; World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), Kenya; and Wageningen University

(WU), Netherlands.

The lead institutions in the implementation of PD 479/07 Rev. 2 (M) as was the case with PD

264/04 were the Forestry Research Institute of Ghana, Wageningen University and Agropolis

International. The project steering committee made up of representatives of Ghana Forestry

Commission, Forest Service Division (Ghana), Ghana Timber Millers Association, Timber

Industry Development Division (Ghana), ITTO, General Project Coordinator, Editorial

Coordinator, was chaired by representative of the Chief Executive of Ghana Forestry Commission

or the Rector of Wageningen University depending whether PSC meeting was held in Ghana or

the Netherlands. The Steering Committee met annually to appraise the project progress and

ensured that project implementation was in accordance with project workplan. The regional

offices, country offices, and the network offices gathered relevant information for the PROTA

databank which was made available to authors to assist in the write-up of articles. The Editorial

Coordinator in the PROTA Network Office Europe was responsible for the editorial activities of

the project, coordinating a large external network of editors and authors. The General Project

Coordinator dealt with policy issues relating to the project implementation and ensured that project

inputs were received and applied in the most efficient manner.

The key personnel in the project team were:

Dr. Joe Cobbinah (FORIG) - General Project Coordinator

Dr. Jan Siemonsma (WU) - Editorial Coordinator

Dr Roel Lemmens (WU) Network Europe Coordinator

Dr. Martin Brink (WU) - Internal Editor

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Dr. Dominique Louppe (Agropolis) - Editor

Dr. Andrew Oteng-Amoako (FORIG) - Editor

Mrs. Stella Britwum Acquah - Regional Officer West Africa node

Ms Ekua Ewudzie Asst Regional Officer W. Africa node

2.4 PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION

There were no serious implementation bottlenecks. The six months budget neutral extension was

due largely to increase in species from 500 to 693. Key project staff stayed on through out project

implementation. Key donors (ITTO, and PROTA Foundation) met their financial commitments in

admirably way.

2.4.1 The most critical differences between planned and actual project implementation

The major differences were as follows

Timber species covered in the project increased from 500 originally planned to 693. 314

validated textfile reviewed articles on 693 species (English and French) have been inserted in

the webdatabase – PROTABASE

The project steering committee meetings held annually rotated between Kumasi in Ghana and

Wageningen in the Netherlands. This arrangement was agreed upon by the Project Steering

Committee (PSC) and endorsed by the ITTO representative on the PSC at the first meeting of

the committee. .

Budget neutral six months extension was requested to allow time to assemble and synthesize

information on additional 193 timber species.

A slight overspending of ITTO budget resulting from increased in audit fee (US$ 3813 instead

of projected US$3333) was borne by the PROTA Foundation.

50 copies of handbooks, 200 special stand-alone ITTO edition of bilingual CDs will be shipped

to ITTO for distribution.

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2.4.2 Measures and actions that could have avoided the variations

Generally, the difference between the actual and planned expenditure in spite of six months

extension was minor and indicative of the discipline in project administration. The slight increase

in audit fee (US$ 480.00) in 2011 not foreseen at the time of project formulation was absorbed by

PROTA Foundation.

2.4.3 Project sustainability

The timbers are one of the 16 commodity groups in the PROTA programme. The PROTA

programme has made considerable progress since its inception in 2000. The programme has

moved from the preparatory phase (2000-2003) through the first implementation phase (2003-

2008) to the current phase (second implementation phase 2008-2012).

The two projects (PD 264/04 and PD 479/07) have together collated and synthesize information on

over 1200 timber species distributed across the length and breadth of tropical Africa to aid

conservation, sustainable management and utilisation. The information have been disseminated

through a variety of path to researchers, forest managers, policy makers and small. medium and

large scale timber operators in the field. Adoption of best practices for seed collection and storage,

nursery management, tree planting, tending and utilisation would in large measure ensure the

sustainability of forests and improved opportunities for the poor who depend heavily on forests for

livelihoods.

The supporting databases (Worldrefs, Afrirefs, Imagefile and Expertise) on timbers have increased

substantially. Capacity building in wood anatomy and editing of African Scientists coupled with

strategic recruitments in the Network Office of Africa and phased transfer of responsibilities to

institutions in Africa would ensure the internalization of the programme in Africa and

sustainability beyond project term.

2.4.4 Appropriateness of project’s inputs

Project inputs (personnel, physical facilities and finances) were generally appropriate for project

implementation. The budget-neutral adjustment was to correct skewness in budget lines. The

slight over run on ITTO budget was due to changes in audit fees that was not anticipated during

the project formulation stage.

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2.5 PROJECT RESULTS

2.5.1 The situation existing at project completion compared to pre project phase

Lack of access to interdisciplinary information (distribution, uses, properties, description, anatomy,

growth and development, propagation, management) on major timber species of tropical Africa

was the pre-project situation. PD264/04 Rev. 3 and PD 479/07 have synthesized existing

knowledge on major timber species as well as Lesser Used Species of tropical Africa which have

great potential for substitution of the so called prime species and made it accessible through web

database, handbook and CD-ROM to policy makers, education and extension workers, researchers

and industry, small-scale and commercial tree growers in two languages (English and French).

As a result of the project implementation the following has been achieved.

2.5.1.1 Capacity Building in Wood Anatomy

A Wood Anatomy workshop was held at Excelsa Lodge in Kumasi, Ghana from 13-23 September

2010. The Workshop was hosted by the Forestry research Institute of Ghana (FORIG).

Standardized wood anatomical descriptions for 138 timber species were made during the

workshop. The training and production workshop had 18 participants: 6 experienced instructors

(Baas, Detiene who prepared material but could not attend due to ill-health at the time of the

workshop and Wheeler, Beeckman, Gasson, Oteng-Amoako, Louppe) and 12 trainees: Ebanyenle

(Ghana), Mugabi (Uganda), Uetimane (Mozambique), Mollel (Tanzania), F.Kamalaa (Malawil), L

Awoyemi (Nigeria), R.Shanda (Kenya), S.N’Danikou (Benin), E.K.Achi (Cote D’Ivoire), E.Obeng

(Ghana), E.Essien (Ghana), E.Mwakalukwa (Tanzania).

2.5.1.2 Capacity building in Editing

An important element of PD 479/07 was training (editorial) of personnel from two key institutions

in Africa. Enoch Achigan-Dako of Network office in Africa (Nairobi) and Ms Elizabeth Obeng of

Ghana had on the job editorial training in the Network Europe Office inWageningen University in

the Netherlands. In addition a total of 43 African authors were guided in the writing process.

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2.5.2 Extent to which the projects specific objectives were achieved

All the three project’s specific objectives were accomplished.

1. Objective 1: – To gather, exchange, evaluate and synthesize the dispersed information on the

‘Timbers of Tropical Africa’ through improved network. Networking during the project

implementation expanded beyond the 11 core organisations. A number of data collectors from

catchment countries of nodes joined. Also as many as 43 authors many of which are affiliated

to institutions in Africa participated in the timber synthesis.

2. Objective 2: - To facilitate wide access of the target beneficiaries to the information on the

‘Timbers of Tropical Africa’ in electronic and printed forms. 314 validated textfile review

articles on 693 species in English and French have been inserted in webdatabase –

PROTABASE. Copies of desktop publication of ‘Timbers 2’ in English and French have been

sent to partners, authors and all major stakeholders. CTA is distributing 600 copies to mainly

ACP countries. ITTO will receive 50 copies for distribution and 200 are being distributed by a

commercial publisher Earthprint. The bilingual CD-ROMs are being distributed by CTA,

PROTA Foundation, ITTO and Earthprint publishers.

3. Objective 3 – To contribute to networking and capacity building in Tropical Africa in the fields

of scientific editing and wood anatomy two personnel from Kenya and Ghana received on the

job training in editing at the project’s network office in Wageningen University in the

Netherlands. Twelve researchers from academic/research institutions in eight countries of

Africa had two week intensive training in wood anatomy in Kumasi under experienced and

world renowned wood anatomists in September 2010.

2.5.3 Impact of Project’s Results

Key to development is knowledge and informed people. The ultimate impact sought is improved

access to interdisciplinary data on timbers of tropical Africa as a basis for sustainable tropical

forest management. The project has used varied carriers (webdatabase, handbook, CD-ROM) to

reach out to different information seekers.

There is now increased knowledge amongst forest managers, researchers, extension officers,

educationists on best practices for propagating and ensuring healthy stands, for substitute species

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for major species overexploited in the past. Knowledge gaps have heightened researchers and

students interest in some of the species.

A survey conducted by PROTA indicates that hits on PROTABASE have increased substantially

since the insertion of information on timbers on the web database.

2.6 SYNTHESIS OF RESULTS

a) Specific objectives achievement

b) Outputs

c) Schedules

d) Actual Expenditure

e) Potential for Replication

f) Potential for scaling up

Realised

Partly realised

Unrealised

Realised

Partly realised

Unrealised

In advance / on time

Delayed but not seriously

Seriously delayed

Below planned

More than 10% above planned

More than 20% above planned

High

Medium

Low

High

Medium

Low

Actual expenditure exceeded planned by 0.003%

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PART 3: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

3.1 DEVELOPMENT LESSONS

Mobilisation, synthesis and dissemination of information on 1200 timber species distributed

throughout tropical Africa over two project term of six and half years is a daunting task in every

respect. The success is attributable to a number of interacting factors including: sound and well-

defined objectives, project planning, commitment of project key personnel including editors,

authors, data collectors as well as timely release of project funding by donors (ITTO, Netherlands

Government agencies and the PROTA Foundation). The two projects had smooth take off because

it was part of a much larger PROTA programme that had its formal and informal structures and

processes firmly in place five years prior to the commencement of PD 264/04. The follow up

project 479/07 was implemented on PD 264/04 template with minor variations.

3.2 OPERATIONAL LESSONS

a) Project organisation and management

The project organisation in terms of inputs delivery, scheduling of activities, monitoring and

evaluation of activities was carried out in compliance with project workplan. Additional

species covered in the course of implementation did not derail significantly the workplan

though it necessitated six months budget neutral extension. Indeed the six months extension

improved the quality and quantity of the project’s outputs. The project key staff stayed on

throughout the project implementation. The project steering committee (PSC) played a

proactive role in directing the project. Although not all members of PSC were actively

involved in the day to day implementation, the annual meeting addressed a number of issues

that emerged during project implementation. The operational processes for Timber 1 replicated

earlier processes employed for the publication of the other PROTA commodity groups

(Vegetables, Cereals and pulses, Dyes and tannins, Vegetable oils) published in 2004, 2005,

2006 and 2007.

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b) Dissemination of Results

Project key output – information on 693 timber species of tropical Africa compiled through

this project has been disseminated through web database (PROTABASE), Timbers 2 handbook

and CD-ROM. The two ITTO funded PROTA projects (PD 264/04 and PD479/07) have

delivered what many described as Encyclopaedia of Tropical Africa timbers.

Project reports to ITTO were all prepared and dispatched as per the agreed schedule. A special

poster announcing the publication of the handbook and CD-ROM will be circulated through

regional nodes, data collectors and CTA communication outlets throughout tropical Africa and

globally.

c) Monitoring and Evaluation

Project monitoring and evaluation was conducted through half-yearly progress reports to ITTO

and annual presentations at the PSC meetings attended by ITTO representative on the PSC, Dr.

Amha Bin Buang. Dr Amha also had the opportunity to interact with participants of the wood

anatomy workshop held in Kumasi in September 2010 and paid a working visit to Network

Europe Office in Wageningen to observe the editorial and publishing processes.

3.3 RECOMMENDATIONS RELATED TO FUTURE PROJECTS

In order to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of similar projects in the future, the following

recommendations are made:

Documentation projects of such magnitude involving many authors and processes and their

interaction usually face delivery delays. While this project was largely successful, the delays

experienced could be avoided or minimised in future by identifying back-up authors.

It is recommended that project implementation starts with an inception / planning workshop

involving all key personnel during which project concepts, workplan, roles and responsibilities

and schedule of activities are discussed by all project partners and personnel.

The project benefited exceedingly from the experience of the Network Europe team. Since

PROTA is largely an African programme, a structured capacity building plan should be

mapped out in the follow-up projects.

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A number of factors accounted for the success of PD 479/07. These could serve as lessons for

similar documentation projects

Pre-project consultative meeting of editors.

Preparation and distribution of comprehensive guide to authors. This served as framework

for authors.

Timely payments of honoraria to authors

Firm promise to list the names and affiliations of contributors in the handbook and other

products.

Existence of basic infrastructure for project implementation

Timely releases of donor support.

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RESPONSIBLE FOR THE REPORT

Project General Coordinator - Dr. J.R. Cobbinah

Signature -

Date - 10 August 2012