The second Steering Committee meeting of the Project "A regional approach to National Monitoring and MRV systems of Congo Basin countries", was held in Douala from 27 to 28 February 2014, in order to gauge the level of implementation of the project.

 
Hosted by the Executive Secretariat of COMIFAC, the meeting was attended by 8 COMIFAC countries namely: Cameroon, Congo, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Central African Republic, Burundi, Sao Tome and Principe and Rwanda, as well as observers representing the FAO, ADB - FFBC and the Regional REDD Project.

 
With Mr. Raymond MBITIKON, the COMIFAC Executive Secretary serving as chair and the meeting secretariat run by Mr. Cléto NDIKUMAGENGE, Chief Technical Advisor (CT ) for the Project, participants at the two-day gathering, listened to various reports on:

 
♦ project achievements during the second half of 2013 ;
♦ planning and deliverables for the end of the project;
♦ the level of budget consumption up till 15 February and forecast the level of budget up till 30 June 2014 ;
♦ steps and perspectives going forward after the current phase.
 

Various aspects of the reports fueled debate and discussions among the participants, and prompted them to make recommendations to various bodies in order to ensure greater efficiency and results in a timely manner, as follows:

 
♦ to FAO and the project team , the recommendations were to: finalize the RPP process in some countries right up to the validation of the document, raise awareness of international processes in the different countries, devise an end-of-project report methodology and also the communication plan for the Scientific Carbon Measurement Conference scheduled to hold  in Gabon from 20 to 21 March 2014 ;
♦ to COMIFAC , participants recommended that it continue supporting countries’ efforts to mobilize the requisite funding for REDD + implementation in the sub -region;
♦ to various COMIFAC countries, participants urged continued financial support of COMIFAC, adherence to various international processes (FCPF , UN- REDD) and development of resource mobilization strategies to this end;
♦ Regarding the financial and management aspects of regional and national technical assistance , the participants' recommendations supported the total or partial maintenance of technical assistance beyond July 31, 2014, depending on the budget available to support needs expressed by the countries .

 
Before closing the meeting which would reconvene in a third session in June 2014 in Douala, attendees at this steering committee agreed to support the MRV Project in organizing national preparatory meetings ahead of the Brazil-COMIFAC consultation slated for 24 March 2014 in Douala.

 
For more information on the conduct of the second meeting of the Project Steering Committee, please click on the report below:

 MRV- COPIL2 - 4 -Mar- 2014 -1.pdf ( 187.2 KB)