The African Forest Forum (AFF), with funding from Sida and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), organized a preparatory meeting of African delegates to the UNFF9 in Nairobi, Kenya, on December 14‐15, 2010.
The meeting brought together 41 delegates from 29 countries: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Central Africain République, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinée Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, République de Guinée, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Representatives of the of UNFF Secretariat, the African Union, the FAO Regional Office for Africa, COMIFAC and SADC as well as members of the AFF Technical Support Team to International and Regional Negotiations (TST)were also present.

The meeting soughtto discuss and form an African consensus on the draft agenda items for UNFF9; develop a common approach to the deliberations at UNFF9; as well as, build African capacity for international negotiations. The main outcomes of the meeting included a two page Declaration as well as positions from the plenary discussions on the various items of the different themes under the UNFF9 agenda.