3. Publication of the list of forest titles requesting conversion

On October 29, 2005, MECNEF published the list of titles in their records by official communiqué and local press. This preliminary list indicated 142 titles. In addition, the MECNEF published on February 2, 2006 the list of title holders that submitted a conversion request, without identifying the specific titles (Official Communiqué no. 001/CAB/MIN/ECN-EF/2006 of February 2, 2006). This list indicated 74 requestors. These files could include requests filed in accordance with previous ministerial arrêtes 050/04 and 071/04 as well as requests submitted in accordance with the Presidential Decree 50/116 of October 24, 2005. On March 17, 2006, the Independent Expert submitted to the SG of the MECNEF the list of 1491 titles that were subject to conversion requests, as established by the TWG with the support and agreement of the Independent Expert, subject to its approval and subsequent publication by the MECNEF. This list was however not published.

On March 21, 2006 by the way of courier No. 232/SG/ECN-EF/2006, the SG of MECNEF sent seven supplementary conversion request files to the Independent Expert and the head of the TWG and asked them to include them in the list to be considered for conversion. These requests were submitted after the official closing date of January 25, 2006 that was prescribed by the Presidential Decree in Article 3. The new list identifying the date of receipt, were sent by the TWG and the Independent Expert on April 4, 2006 to the SG of the MECNEF for publication. The list was finally published on April 12 and 13, 2006 respectively in the local newspapers L’Avenir and Info-Environnement.

As can be seen from above, the effective date of publication of the official list of the titles for which a conversion request had been received was later than that prescribed in Article 3 of the Presidential Decree, which stipulated that the list be published seven days after the date limit for reception, or January 25, 2006. This delay was due to difficulties and delays of establishing the TWG and subsequent transmission of the request for conversion files from the MECNEF to the TWG.

4. Evaluation Guide for Conversion requests

With the technical support of the Independent Expert, an evaluation guide for conversion requests was developed by the TWG. This guide directly responds to the terms of the Presidential Decree and takes into account the laws and regulations that precede the Forestry Code relating to the awarding of forest titles and all other necessary laws and regulations.

On March 17, 2006, a draft of this evaluation guide was submitted to the SG of MECNEF for his approval and subsequent diffusion. The Independent Expert will support MECNEF in the dissemination of the guide. It is hoped that this guide will be made public as soon as possible. A national informational workshop is anticipated near the end of April to present the guide to the different actors in the sector.