Renewed policy dialogue and a “Forest sector roadmap” paved the way for the approval of the programme for the Sustainable Management of Forests 

Kinshasa, 5 December : Under the presidency of the Minister of Finance and with the participation of his counterparts for the Environment, Land use planning, Land tenure, Agriculture and Energy, of the Norwegian and French Ambassadors and Congolese civil society, today the DRC National REDD+ Fund Steering Committee approved the “Programme for the Sustainable Management of Forests" (often referred to by its French acronym, PGDF). The Programme is co-funded by CAFI (12 million in two tranches of 6 million), the French Development Agency, that is also its implementing agency (4.4 million), and with activities from the French Facility for Global Environment (FFEM, 1.1 million) contributing to its objectives.

Back in April 2018, the PGDF had received a positive recommendation by the DRC Technical Committee (see the press release of its 14th meeting), pending the integration of final revisions.

The National REDD+ Investment Plan of the DRC highlights the “particularly severe illegal logging situation" and the need to improve the management of forests, be it industrial or artisanal. In its Letter of Intent with CAFI, the DRC Government took 13 specific engagements (milestones) related to the improvement of the forest sector, a number of which have been fully or partially met, an independent process recently concluded.

In a country where forests cover more than half of the territory, the forest sector could be driving the transition towards a green economy. Broadly speaking, the PGDF seeks to support the establishment of legal conditions for a better governance and sustainable management of the forest sector, and improve the way timber is extracted and valued. Its specific objectives are to

1. Contribute to the elaboration of a strategy to strengthen the economic governance of the sector
2. Support the transparent and participatory elaboration of a Forest policy
3. Contribute to developing the forest/timber artisanal sector with legal practices
4. Support the sustainable management of forests by communities and territorial entities 
5. Ensure that the management of large forest concessions is performed in accordance to Congolese law
6. Strengthen the capacity of local forest and decentralized administration

For more Information, please check: HERE