Kindly download the final communiqué of the Ninth ordinary session of the Council of Ministers of the Central African Forest Commission (COMIFAC).

 

 

Kigali, 29 November 2016 - The ninth ordinary session of the Council of Ministers of the Central African Forest Commission (COMIFAC) took place. The session was preceded by the advisory expert meeting held on 27-28 November 2016. Kindly download the final Communiqué of the Council of Ministers.

 

Following lively and fruitful discussions behind closed doors, the Council of Ministers came up with findings, formulated recommendations and resolutions, including:

 

The Convergence Plan’s online monitoring-evaluation platform and of Land Use Atlas, which are decision-making tools for developing national land planning policies have been officially launched.

 

 

Regarding COMIFAC’s crisis and sustainability:

 

Rwanda’s Minister of Natural Resources, the new Acting President of COMIFAC has pledged to send correspondence forthwith to his colleagues in charge of forests and environment in the member countries, urging them to bring COMIFAC’s critical situation to the attention of their respective Heads of State, for the appropriate measures to be taken to pay overdue contributions without delay.

The Ministers agreed to meet in a special session in March 2017 to assess progress in payment of the countries’ overdue contributions,

 

The Ministers are encouraged to emulate the example of Cameroon which paid its egalitarian contribution via its Forestry Fund.

 

COMIFAC’s Biennial activity report was adopted by the Ministers as the outgoing team of the Executive Secretariat was applauded for the work done.

 

 

Regarding implementation of the resolutions of the Council of Ministers for 2015-16

 

The Ministers noted the 53% implementation rate for decisions of the Council of Ministers and called on the member countries to implement the resolutions submitted to them, including the payment of overdue contributions

 

The Ministers adopted the biennial action plan of the COMIFAC Executive Secretariat for 2017-2018 as well as the action plan of the COMIFAC National Coordinations (CNC). The countries were called upon to see to the institutional anchoring of the CNCs at national level considering their mission of monitoring implementation of the Convergence Plan and taking into account their role within the Central African Forests Observatory (OFAC).

 

 

Regarding COMIFAC’s draft biennial budget 2017-2018 

 

The Ministers approved COMIFAC’s draft biennial budget 2017-18 to the tune of 4,034,634 Euros distributed as follows: 2,037,552 Euros for COMIFAC’s functioning and 1,997,082 Euros for the implementation of activities under the COMIFAC Convergence Plan. They urged the countries to take urgent steps to clear all their outstanding contributions in accordance with Decision 17.ii of the Kinshasa special meeting. 

 

The Ministers instructed the COMIFAC Executive Secretariat to enforce article 20, paragraph 4 of the Treaty which provides that: "Any State which does not meet its obligations shall lose its voting rights as well as any support from the Organization pending payment of dues".

 

Lastly, the Ministers called on the technical and financial partners to conduct prior checks before granting support to ensure that the beneficiary country is in good standing with its contributions to COMIFAC.

 

 

For more information, kindly download the final communiqué of the Ninth ordinary session of the Council of Ministers of the Central African Forest Commission (COMIFAC).

Communiqué Final 9ème session ordinaire du Conseil des Ministres de la COMIFAC.pdf (1.3 Mo)