Mr. GUEYE has thirty years of proven experience in the management of forest resources and the fight against forest crime. GUEYE was the initiator of community forest management as national coordinator of the Pilot Forest Management Scheme project from 1995 to 1998, with funding from French cooperation. It was the Pilot Scheme that defined the first ways of involving rural populations and communities in the implementation of forest management plans. Local forest management structures took shape through memoranda of understanding between villages and rural councils.