As part of a Fondation Franklinia project to conserve threatened trees in Guinea, a 2-day participatory workshop was held in Conakry on 21–22 March 2023 to develop a national conservation action plan for the country's threatened trees. The workshop, organized by a partnership between the National Herbarium of Guinea, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Guinée Ecologie, and Association Guineene d'Eveil au Developpement Durable, with assistance from the Centre for Environmental Education and Research and CITES, brought together c. 50 participants both in person and online. Participants from across government, academia, NGOs and the private sector who work on plant conservation and the environment discussed the status of and threats to trees in Guinea, to obtain a consensus on the actions needed for their conservation. The workshop was supported by the co-chairs of the West African Plants Red List Authority, Fatimata Niang Diop and Martin Cheek online, and Charlotte Couch in Conakry.

The workshop used the principles and steps from the IUCN Conservation Planning Specialist Group to facilitate the workshop and enable maximum participation to generate a consensus view. The participants were highly motivated and by the end of the first day we had an outline of the vision for the action plan. By the end of the second day we had the major threats outlined and ranked, and some objectives/goals from all seven working groups. The agreed vision for the action plan is that ‘By 2050, Guinea's forests and threatened and endemic tree species are better known, resilient to climate change and sustainably protected by local communities, government departments and all stakeholders, including NGOs and the private sector.’

A report of the workshop is available in French, along with the workshop presentations (herbierguinee.org/franklinia-documents.html). The 2-day workshop was successful, engaging and participatory, and a follow-up workshop to develop the actions and indicators to measure success will be held later in 2023.