ABCG has taken a critical look at the face of our collaboration: our interactive website--ABCG.org--and invested in redesigning its functionality for a more effective user interface. This includes, content searching, interactivity and feedback, streamlined user experience and a presentable layout.... Read more …
„...In a context deeply marked by climate change and its effects, every year comes with its set of new challenges: l Slaughtering of elephants or rhinos and recrudescence of illegal trade in wild animals; l Armed conflicts emerging here and there; and l Extractive industries that are always on the watch, waiting for a chance to set everything back. Building the future upon nature-based and innovative solutions then becomes a battle to be waged from the local to the global level and vice versa...“ an Extract from Foreword, Pr. Aimé J. Nianogo, Regional Director...
Find more..."...DMINISTRATOR ZHAO: (Via translator) Vice Premier Liu Yandong, State Councilor Yang Jiechi, Secretary John Kerry, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, we are very glad to have with you here on this U.S.-China event combating wildlife trafficking, which is aimed at raising the awareness of the international community and the general public to participate in and to support the fight against illegal wildlife trafficking, and to protect wildlife resources. Let us express our warm welcome and sincere thanks to Vice Premier Liu, State Councilor Yang, and Secretary Kerry. (Applause.)..."
Find more..."...Like other forms of illicit trade, wildlife trafficking undermines security across nations. Well-armed, well-equipped, and well-organized networks of criminals, insurgent elements, and corrupt officials exploit porous borders and weak institutions to profit from trading in poached wildlife..." -
Find more...Chinese activities in African forests have a wide range of impacts. In some places, Chinese firms appear to comply with corporate social responsibility requirements and contribute to the welfare of local communities, and there is some evidence of increasing concern over forest sustainability. However, for the majority of Chinese timber companies, responsible purchasing policies have yet to be implemented. And while China’s investment in African forests remains a small share of its total investment in the continent, and accounts for a relatively small proportion of its total forest product imports each year, China has become the key destination for timber exported from many African countries.
Find more...WASHINGTON, D.C. – As part of the historic U.S. Africa Leaders’ Summit, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, on behalf of the Obama Administration, today hosted four African heads of state including President Hifikepunye Pohamba of the Republic of Namibia, President Faure Gnassingbé of the Togolese Republic, President Jakaya Kikwete of the United Republic of Tanzania and President Ali Bongo Ondimba of the Gabonese Republic in a conversation on combating wildlife trafficking. The conversation also included several other African leaders, senior U.S. government officials from departments and agencies representing the Presidential Task Force on Wildlife Trafficking, members of the federal Advisory Council on Wildlife Trafficking, leaders of key non-governmental organizations and Young African Leaders Initiative participants.
Find more...Fire Science Online recently launched career and education guides focused on public service and safety careers including firefighting, law enforcement, forestry, and paramedics. Each guide contains career and salary information, a school search tool, internships, scholarships, and other related educational information. Even with the vast number of career sites on the internet, it can be quite difficult to find accurate and relevant information to these service and safety career paths. Fire Science Online resources are always free and Fire Science Online continue to keep the site non-commercial and non-for-profit...
Find more... 1. Policy. The Bernard et al. paper discusses the relationship between pilot early action projects -- as are getting underway within many of the CBFP landscapes - and development of operational National REDD+ Strategies & Action Plans and building national capacity to implement them - 2. Practice. An example of the newsletter that WWC puts out to its local constituency for the Kasigau Corridor (Kenya) REDD+ project, the most longstanding and successful REDD+ project to date in Africa....
FInd more...The recent quarterly newsletter on the second phase of the Developing Community Alternatives to Illegal Logging Project (DACEFI2) reports the project team’s analysis of various texts as part of the review of forest codes in the sub-region. They address the issue of its value added in the management of the rural forest domain in Gabon, as a way of hailing the temporal return of Mutual Agreement Permits (PGG). The letter highlights the repercussions of these permits on forest communities and the overall mood of Gabon’s forest community…
Find more...Training Manual Launched to Improve Social Equity in Forests and Climate Change Context - The USAID-funded Grassroots Equity and Enhanced Networks in the Mekong (GREEN Mekong) program recently completed a seminal training publication entitled “Improving grassroots equity in the forests and climate change context”. The manual aims to develop the knowledge and capacities of grassroots facilitators to conduct meaningful participatory processes that can improve social equity and inclusion in forest-based climate change mitigation policy frameworks, mechanisms and projects. Using innovative training approaches and methodologies grounded on experiential learning principles, this manual differs from typical REDD+ materials as it focuses on the ‘how' rather than the ‘what' of equity. It will help grassroots stakeholders to generate valuable opinions and positions about forests and climate change related developments.
Find more...This executive summary outlines progress achieved in activities undertaken during the second quarter of 2014 (April to June) towards implementation of the COMIFAC Executive Secretariat’s Annual Work Plan. Activities revolved around the following components: (i) Planning, monitoring and evaluation of implementation of the Convergence Plan (ii) Communication, subregional consultation and capacity building ; (iii) International dialogue on forests and the environment and promotion of COMIFAC ; and (iv) Coordinating implementation of the Convergence Plan.
Find more......CFPs provisionally selected the ER-PIN from the Republic of Congo into the pipeline of the CF, and provisionally allocated up to $650,000 for development of an ER-PD. The inclusion and allocation are subject to a condition specified in the respective resolution...
Find more...Central Africa’s conservation approach is based on land-use planning in 12 priority landscapes, involving establishment of core protected areas surrounded by multiple-use zones... The large landscape conservation approach adopted in the Congo Basin is aimed at effective management of a network of protected areas along with promotion of sustainable use of natural resources in surrounding forests for economic development, livelihood support and the well-being of surrounding local communities...
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World Resources Institute (WRI) and the Resources and Rights Initiative (RRI) unveil the report Securing Rights, Combating Climate Change: How Strengthening Community Forest Rights Mitigates Climate Change. This eye opening analysis will offer the most comprehensive review to date linking legal recognition and government protection of community forest rights with healthier forests and reduced carbon pollution from deforestation. More than 11 percent of global emissions are due to deforestation and other land use, and this new analysis offers an exciting and largely untapped tool to help reduce global emissions. FInd more...
The topic was at the center of discussions at the first United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi, from June 23 to 27, 2014. The assembly brought together close to 1200 participants from various walks of life such as Ministers of Environment, leaders of international organizations, representatives of governments, civil society representatives, a few business leaders and eminent personalities such as the UN Secretary General and the Chairperson of the 68th United Nations General Assembly, who also fully attended the UNEA high-level segment entitled “Towards a life of dignity for all”. FInd more...
The two-year programme which is being implemented in the South West and Center regions includes four components: sustainable agricultural production, climate change and REDD+, cooperative development, the next generation of cocoa farming and linkages with markets. It seeks to address certification, processing, landscape and carbon market issues;
FInd more..The first United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) was held at UNEP headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, from 23-27 June 2014. More than 1,200 participants, including environment ministers, heads of international organizations, government representatives, civil society representatives and business leaders, attended the assembly. The overarching theme of the session was “Sustainable Development Goals and the Post-2015 Development Agenda, including sustainable consumption and production.”
FInd more...The Bonn Climate Change Conference took place in Bonn, Germany, from 4-15 June 2014, and included the 40th sessions of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) and the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA). The fifth meeting of the second session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP 2-5) also took place. The meeting brought together approximately 2790 participants, 1689 representing parties and observer states, 1068 from observer organizations, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and 37 media.
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Biodiversity and natural resource management in West and Central Africa through accurate, accessible and informed broadcast journalism ... Conservation and protection of the abundant natural resources and rich biodiversity of West and Central Africa’s forests is a vital part of ensuring peace and sustainable development in the region. These forest ecosystems are of global importance in terms of climate change mitigation, and are considered among the most biologically diverse in the world. Yet human intervention, often driven by poverty and civil conflict, has placed extreme stress on these unique and fragile ecosystems. Find more...
On 14-15 July 2014, about 35 Ministers and their representatives, the Co-Chairs of the ADP, as well as the Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, met in Berlin at the invitation of the governments of Peru and Germany. In an informal setting Ministers discussed how to accelerate progress in the
UN climate negotiations and how to enhance climate action in their respective countries.
FInd more......As the REDD+ countries move into the implementation of their stakeholder consultation and participation plans, donors should keep close oversight of how well the countries follow their plans and the results of stakeholder input. If collected, this information could be shared across countries. Countries that are leaders in stakeholder engagement could help to create peer pressure so that other countries aim to live up to international standards for the quality and extent of stakeholder engagement. Support by donors for strengthening civil society, particularly at sub-national levels, will be critical. The international REDD+ community has an important continuing role in promoting stakeholder engagement as an ongoing process throughout REDD+...
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THEME: DIPLOMACY-INTEGRATION-GOVERNANCE AND THE NEW TIMBER ECONOMY - TECHNICAL SEGMENT - In order to finalize the implementation of the Green Economy System in Central Africa and the Green Economy Fund in Central Africa, the ECCAS General Secretariat in collaboration with the Government of the Republic of Congo, the Central Africa Forest Commission (COMIFAC) and the Central African States’ Development Bank (BDEAC), decided to hold the Conference of ECCAS Ministers in charge of Economy and Finance, Foreign Affairs and cooperation, Forestry and the Environment, on the topic of the Green Economy Fund in Central Africa and the structural transformation of the natural resources economy. The chosen theme is: DIPLOMACY, INTEGRATION-GOVERNANCE AND THE NEW TIMBER ECONOMY. Find more...
From July 10 to 11, 2014, the premises of La Falaise Hotel in Douala served as the venue for a regional meeting on the establishment of a regional network of permanent plots for COMIFAC member countries. The gathering was hosted by COMIFAC, through its MRV project. Participants consisted mainly of representatives of the forestry administration, scientific experts, representatives of academic institutions and of institutional partners, both financial and technical.
Find more..."...More importantly, 39.9% of the distribution of great ape species on unprotected lands overlaps with suitable oil palm areas. There is an urgent need to develop guidelines for the expansion of oil palm in Africa to minimize the negative effects on apes and other wildlife. There is also a need for research to support land use decisions to reconcile economic development, great ape conservation, and avoiding carbon emissions...."
Find more...Organized by COMIFAC Executive Secretariat within the framework of collaboration between OFAC and the MNV regional project implemented by FAO, the regional discussion meeting held in Douala (Cameroon) on July 8-9, 2014 on the improvement of Central African Forest Observatory (OFAC) database supply by different national groups. This meeting was attended by representatives of the different COMIFAC countries, international organizations involved in OFAC, as well as representatives of sub-regional projects and initiatives.
Find more...APEGG and CEFDHAC advocate for the establishment of an observatory to monitor health and environmental risks in coastal parts of Congo Basin countries, the Atlantic coast serving the Congo, Gabon, Angola, Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon.
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Wildlife, fish, and plants do not recognize national boundaries. Wildlife Without Borders: Working with people to conserve nature. Conservation of wildlife is a global responsibility, with the survival of species largely dependent on habitats extending beyond national boundaries. With human populations growing – and corresponding increases in development, pollution and consumption of natural resources – the need for international collaboration has never been greater. Some of the world’s most treasured and exotic animals are dangerously close to extinction. Destruction of natural habitat, illegal poaching, and pet-trade smuggling in parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America are devastating populations of tigers, great apes, elephants, marine turtles and many other cherished species. For more...
