ARI Partners to Strengthen Forest Governance Reporting

Limbe, Cameroon | 18 July 2026

Good forest governance depends not only on strong laws and institutions, but also on informed public scrutiny. Journalism plays a critical role in ensuring that decisions affecting forests, communities and natural resources are transparent, evidence-based and accountable.

Recognising this, the African Resilience Institute (ARI) partnered with the Community Initiative for Development Communication (CODEC Cameroon), the Ajemalebu Self-Help (AJESH), Eco-Outlook Newspaper and the Earth Journalism Network (EJN) to deliver a national capacity-building workshop for journalists under the Forest Governance Media Initiative (FGMI). The initiative seeks to strengthen media coverage of forest governance by equipping journalists with the knowledge and tools needed to report on Cameroon’s updated 2024 Forestry and Wildlife Law and the broader governance challenges shaping the country’s forests.

Positioning Forest Governance as a Public Interest Issue

ARI led the workshop’s technical training, moving beyond a narrow focus on forestry legislation to frame forests as a strategic governance issue at the intersection of climate resilience, biodiversity conservation, economic development and social justice.

Co-Facilitated by Eugene N. Nforngwa, Director of ARI, the training challenged participants to rethink environmental reporting. Rather than treating forests solely as environmental assets, journalists were encouraged to view them as public goods whose future depends on the quality of governance, public accountability and citizen engagement.

Drawing on ARI’s newly developed training programme on forests and forest governance, participants examined why forests have become central to climate action, how governance determines environmental and development outcomes, and why journalism is indispensable to protecting both.

Building Journalists as Accountability Actors

A key message throughout the workshop was that journalists are not simply observers of environmental change but, more critically, accountability actors whose work can influence governance outcomes.

The training equipped participants to investigate the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation, interpret environmental data, understand institutional responsibilities, and produce evidence-based stories that hold decision-makers accountable. Equal emphasis was placed on solutions journalism, ethical reporting and amplifying the voices of Indigenous Peoples, local communities and other stakeholders whose lives depend on healthy forests.

ARI encouraged journalists to move beyond reporting isolated environmental events towards sustained coverage that examines governance systems, tracks policy implementation and highlights practical solutions that strengthen resilience.

Strengthening Governance Through Better Journalism

Across Africa, weak governance remains one of the most significant drivers of forest loss. Illegal logging, land conflicts, weak enforcement, corruption and unequal benefit sharing continue to undermine sustainable forest management and the livelihoods of millions of people.

ARI’s contribution to the workshop centred on demonstrating that improving forest governance requires, in addition to stronger policies, informed public dialogue. High-quality journalism helps citizens understand complex governance issues, exposes failures, documents progress and creates incentives for better decision-making.

By strengthening journalists’ capacity to investigate, explain and contextualise forest governance challenges, the workshop contributes to building more transparent institutions and more resilient societies.

Advancing ARI’s Mission

The partnership reflects ARI’s broader mission to generate evidence, build capacity and strengthen governance systems that support resilient and sustainable development across Africa.

As climate pressures intensify and competition over natural resources grows, forests are increasingly recognised as strategic assets for climate stability, biodiversity, water security and economic resilience. Protecting them requires governance that is transparent, inclusive and accountable, and journalism that informs citizens, scrutinises power and elevates evidence over rhetoric.

Through partnerships such as the Forest Governance Media Initiative, ARI is helping build a stronger ecosystem of environmental journalism capable of supporting better governance and more resilient futures for Cameroon, the Congo Basin and Africa as a whole.