• Increased biodiversity conservation 



• Improvement of ecosystem function and integrity 



• Development and modeling of viable incentives for sustainable natural resource management 

 that takes account of wildlife populations 



• Increased awareness and codification of community rights and responsibilities in regard to 

 engaged and sustainable management of natural resources in the region. 



Regional Forest Cover ^ 



100 



100 



200 



kilometers 

 scale: 1/10,000,000 



projection: UniversalTransverse Mercator 

 zone 29 



Figure 1 : Upper Guinean Forest Ecosystem, Regional Forest cover 



STEWARD has benefited and drawn from analyses of the region's biodiversity by Conservation 

 International, Fauna and Flora International and other groups. The Upper Guinean Forest Ecosystem 

 extends from southern Guinea into Sierra Leone, through Liberia and southern Côte d'Ivoire into Ghana. 

 It encompasses 420,000 km2 and is a high global priority for biodiversity conservation. The region as a 

 whole has historically been overlooked and under-resourced, and natural resource management 

 practices and systems have, by and large, not kept pace with the evolution and improvements that have 

 occurred in other regions. The region is also under threat from a range of unsustainable practices and land 

 use pressures, extractive industries and as a source area for commodities such as rubber, cocoa and oil 

 palm. Given the recent history of conflict in several of these countries, it is also of strategic importance 

 in terms of peace building. 



Due to a variety of factors, original forest cover in the area has been reduced to less than twenty five 

 percent of the region. Critical biodiversity is threatened by extreme habitat fragmentation and land 

 degradation. The complex, multi-sector forces at work necessitate an integrated, regional approach for 

 balancing conservation needs with livelihood and development priorities, building on existing national 

 initiatives in the Upper Guinea countries. It is in response to this need that STEWARD was created. 



US Forest Service FRAMEweb site: www.frameweb.org/ev_en.php?ID=7709_20 1 &ID2=^DO_TOPIC 

 STEWARD FRAMEweb site: www.frameweb.org/ev_en.php?ID=92332 201&ID2=DO COMMUNITY 



Nature & Faune Vol. 23, Issue 1 



