Kigali-Rwanda: 22 November 2016 - Bioversity International has officially joined the Congo Basin Forests Partnership (CBFP).

Bioversity is a global research-for-development organization and member of the CGIAR Consortium. The organization delivers scientific evidence, management practices and policy options to use and safeguard agricultural and tree biodiversity for sustainable global food and nutrition security.

Bioversity International has a longstanding interest in the Congo Basin; it has maintained an office in Yaoundé for the past 10 years, hosted by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). Even before establishing the office there, it carried out activities in the Congo Basin countries from the regional office in Benin. Their focus in the Congo Basin is mostly on conservation and better use of the genetic diversity of trees. 

Bioversity International’s tree genetic resources research focuses on documenting the diversity within tree species that are valuable for people, analyzing threats to trees and their genetic resources and learning how these threats can be addressed to achieve their conservation and sustainable use in protected areas, managed forests and woodlands. 

Bioversity International seeks to create awareness of the relevance and role of tree genetic resources in ecosystem restoration and disseminating knowledge to help practitioners and policymakers identify and select the best seed sources for planting. 

Their participatory research on gender focuses on women’s and men’s distinct and complementary sets of knowledge, skills, practices and preferences related to the management of trees and forests, and on gendered rights to access and benefit from trees and their products. The goal is to develop effective forest resource management recommendations and opportunities that can increase social equity and long-term sustainability of forest and tree use.  Bioversity International scientists also carry out research to reveal ways of resolving conflicts over forest resources and determining how to make conservation compatible with the use of tree resources so that local people’s livelihood strategies are supported and sustained.  

Bioversity scientists are involved in the development of molecular tools for tracking harvested logs to help timber operators secure their supply-chains, comply with legal requirements for sourcing and delivering legal wood and wood products and ultimately help fight illegal logging and the associated trade. 

Bioversity coordinates the sub-Saharan African Forest Genetic Resources (SAFORGEN) Programme from its Yaoundé office. The Congo Basin countries are members of this network, which supports collaboration to enable people and institutions in sub-Saharan Africa to more effectively conserve and use existing tree diversity. In April 2016, SAFORGEN organized a workshop in Douala, Cameroon to identify regional priorities for the implementation of the FAO Global Plan of Action for the Conservation, Sustainable Use and Development of Forest Genetic Resources (GPA-FGR) in Africa.  

Capacity building is an important component of their work in the region. Over the course of the 4 years of the “Beyond Timber” Project led by Bioversity, funded by the Congo Basin Forest Fund and carried out in collaboration with CIFOR and the National Forest Research Institutes in Cameroon, Gabon and DRC, for example, it trained 19 graduate students, 9 junior scientists from national research systems and 25 forest technicians working with forest concessions. In addition, it has offered training courses and made available training materials that can be accessed freely online at http://forest-geneticresources-training-guide.bioversityinternational.org/. 

Bioversity International is convinced that we can more effectively benefit the governments, people and forests of the Congo Basin; collaborate with key stakeholders; and address the critical issues of the region as members of the CBFP, and confirm our adherence to its cooperation principles. 

The European Facilitation of the Congo Basin Forests Partnership is very pleased to welcome Bioversity International as a new CBFP member. Welcome to our new partner: Bioversity International!

Contact

Dr. Laura Snook (l.snook@cgiar.org) or/ and  Dr. Marius Ekué (m.ekue@cgiar.org)

For more information, please visit the Bioversity International website