About thirty participants from the following institutions and organizations took part in this meeting: Experts from FAO; UN-Environment, the Commissioner in charge of Agriculture, Environment and Water Resources of ECOWAS; Experts from the Directorates in charge of Environment and Natural Resources and the Water Resources Management Centre of ECOWAS; IUCN; GWP-WA; NBA; OMVS, OMVG, UEMOA, Focal points of the 8 member countries of the Fouta Djallon Highlands which are: Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Mauritania, Senegal and Sierra Leone.
Among other recommendations made, participants requested:
ECOWAS to accelerate the formalization of the institutional and legal anchoring of the program at the ECOWAS level, taking into account the strategic directions of member countries; establish and operationalize the program coordination unit; and mobilize the necessary resources; and operationalize the Regional Observatory of Natural Resources of the Fouta Djallon Highlands by networking the national observatories and those of the existing basin organizations, taking into account the achievements at the national and sub-regional levels.
ECOWAS, FAO, UNEP, AND MEMBER STATES, to extend the project until December 2023; and provide the project teams with the necessary resources in time for the implementation of the work plans.
Member countries, to ensure the effective inclusion of the States' in-kind and in cash contributions according to the financing scheme agreed by the project parties; promote the effectiveness and sustainability of the project by maintaining the focal points (institutional memory) until the end of the project.