CIFOR Polex- Dr Denis Sonwa: Sustainable development in the Congo Basin: Moving beyond the biodiversity agenda

 

Editor’s Note: A version of this article was published in the newsletter of the Beahrs Environmental Leadership Program of the University of California-Berkeley.

 

Forest biodiversity conservation has been the main environmental priority in central Africa. The bonds between the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) seem to be strong with REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation). Some of the Aichi targets (5, 7, 11 & 15) of the CBD and the environmental safeguards of REDD+ (UNFCCC) are good links between the two conventions. REDD+ has thus emerged as one way for biodiversity conservation in the Congo Basin.

 

Adaptation to climate change, which seems to be closer to the development of communities, did not receive the same attention as REDD+ in the UNFCCC priorities in the region. With the support of the African Development Bank (ADB) and the Economic Community of Central African States (CEEAC/ECCAS), CIFOR and partners are implementing a project on synergy between adaptation and mitigation. After the Congo Basin and Climate Change Adaptation (COFCAA), this is one of the few regional projects on adaptation in the Congo Basin.

 

Rural development free from stressors such as climate change is supposed to be associated with biodiversity management, with the perspective of achieving conservation goals inside and outside protected areas. Application of the two conventions is not happening in a vacuum. Activities carried out in these conventions through the forest sector are in one way or another links to the development process targeted by countries of the region. Countries of the Congo Basin are envisioning themselves as emergent economies in one or two decades.

 

Using the Rio 92 (and following Earth Summits) perspectives constructed generally around socio-economic and ecological targets, it is evident that the agenda is incomplete in the Congo Basin. The Congo Basin is currently characterized by the co-existence of important biodiversity hot spots; high forest carbon stocks; conflict and post-conflict realities; important proportions of poor, unnourished, unhealthy and climatically vulnerable communities living in remote areas with few connections to modern sources of energy, etc.

 

Contrary to perceptions in the developed world, development and conservation have been perceived as antagonists in developing countries. Forest and intensive agricultural production seem to be incompatible. According to a recent World Bank report, some of the conditions (remoteness, low funding and investment in the agricultural sector, low mining exploitation, low energy consumption per household, etc.) that contributed to keeping biodiversity and forest carbon stock in central Africa will change in the near future, with the chance to increase deforestation. Without a strong will and a transformative change in looking outside the biodiversity sector for the means to save it, current efforts may be in vain. It is difficult to think that the Congo Basin will be saved in the way the CBD and UNFCCC are implemented.

 

The heads of state summit of the Congo Basin in March 1999 produced the Yaoundé Declaration, translated by the Central Africa Forest Commission (COMIFAC) in July 2004 into a 10-year plan for conservation and sustainable management of the ecosystem of Central Africa. Within the Economic Community of Central African States (CEEAC/ECCAS), the forest sector is probably one of the most organized through COMIFAC, with the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP) as a platform, and with all partners interested in the sector.

 

The current U.S. facilitation will probably help to revisit the current 10-year biodiversity plan and have another heads of state summit to review the Yaoundé declaration. President Barack Obama, who will receive in Washington his peers from the region in August for the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, has in the past been willing to help reduce deforestation in the Congo Basin.

 

Beside other initiatives, the summits to come (in Washington and in the Congo Basin) represent good opportunities to move the agenda beyond just biodiversity. Those summits can give chances for sustainable development to become realities in this part of the world. The dream is to see forestry (conservation, industrial and smallholder loggings, plantations), industries (agro-industries, mining, etc.) and smallholder activities (agriculture, non-wood forest products management, etc.) not only co-existing, but blooming together in Africa.

 

For more information and the Full Article, please consult the Following link:  Sustainable development in the Congo Basin: Moving beyond the biodiversity agenda                        

 

Image credit: A wild bird in Cameroon. Forest biodiversity conservation has been the main environmental priority in central Africa. Terry Sunderland/CIFOR photo... Here

Go back

CBFP News

WWF: Rainforest deforestation more than doubled under cover of coronavirus -DW

Tropical rainforests shrank by 6,500 square kilometers in March — an area seven times the size of Berlin. Criminal groups are taking advantage of the pandemic and the unemployed are getting desperate, the WWF said.

Read more …

Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park Monthly update April 2020

"At a time when many countries are beginning their gradual deconfinement and when there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon of returning to normal life, I wanted to share with you some good news that also fills us with hope for the future of the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park."

Read more …

Resources and follow-up from the virtual FAO-EcoAgriculture Partners Roundtable

Last April 30th FAO and EcoAgriculture Partners organized a virtual Roundtable on Territorial Perspectives for Development, in which over 170 people participated.

Read more …

ATIBT -CBFP: Private Sector mobilized around the CBFP Facilitator of the Federal Republic of Germany

ATIBT co-facilitated the mobilization of the private sector of the timber sector to participate in the first meeting of the private sector college of Congo Basin Forest Partnership with the new facilitator Dr Christian Ruck and his team German Facilitation.

Read more …

Development and institutionalization of a PAFC certification system for the Congo basin: opening of the second public consultation on Sustainable Forest Management Certification Standard, 23 May 2020 - 22 June 2020

This second public consultation will be open for a period of 30 days from tomorrow Saturday the 23rd of May 2020 and will be closed on Monday the 22nd of June 2020. The public consultation is open to all stakeholders of forest management in the Congo Basin interested in participating to the PAFC Congo Basin certification standards development process.

Read more …

Forest defenders on the COVID-19 frontline stand ready to assist the global EU response – Fern

These efforts go hand in hand with ensuring continued responsible management of natural resources and preventing unsustainably and illegally sourced forest commodities. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, forest-monitoring organisations Observatoire de la Gouvernance Forestière (OGF) and Réseau des observateurs indépendants des ressources naturelles (RENOI) are set to carry out COVID awareness-raising in at-risk forest areas, and will also assess COVID’s impact on forest management and governance commitments under the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI). Across the Congo Basin, fears that a proper lack of oversight may put forests and forest peoples in danger are looming despite emerging initiatives.

Read more …

22 May 2020 International Day for Biological Diversity

The theme of the 2020 International Day for Biological Diversity is “Our Solutions are in Nature”. It shows that "Biodiversity remains the answer to a number of sustainable development challenges that we all face. From nature-based solutions to climate, to food and water security, and sustainable livelihoods, biodiversity remains the basis for a sustainable future."

Read more …

CBFP News Archive

2024

There are no news items for this period.