Representatives from a dozen nations will gather today in Paris for the first international meeting of the Congo Basin Forest Partnership.
This is an economic development and conservation program for six Central African countries that was launched in Johannesburg in September 2002 at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD).
The meeting, being held from today until Friday at Paris’ International Conference Centre, will provide governments, international organisations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) involved in the partnership opportunities for collaboration and an exchange of information on specific contributions and resources committed to the initiative.
“The meeting is designed to harness the ideas and energy of all the many partners in the Congo Basin Forest Partnership into a long-term plan to conserve the incredible natural resources of the Congo Basin forest area,” US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Environment Jeffry Burnam said.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell announced the Congo Basin Forest Partnership on September 4 2002 at WSSD before traveling to Gabon to participate in the inauguration of that country’s national park system.
The forest initiative was one of more than 20 announced US-led partnerships designed to leverage government funding with financial support from the private sector to help increase the access of poor countries to such things as safe drinking water, clean energy and better sanitation.
The Congo Basin initiative seeks to promote economic development and alleviate poverty through conservation programs to be set up in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Republic of the Congo.
The US plans to invest up to $53-million until 2005 to help the African countries develop a network of national parks and protected areas, and to help local communities better manage the forest and wildlife resources of the Congo Basin and establish sustainable means of livelihood through sustainable agriculture and integrated ecotourism programs.
Other countries participating in the partnership include the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, France, Canada and South Africa. Also participating are international organisations such as the World Bank and the World Conservation Union, and more than a dozen NGO and private sector groups such as the World Wildlife Fund, the World Resources Institute and the Centre for International Forestry Research.
A US representative said the Paris meeting will allow government representatives and officials responsible for forest policy and projects to discuss their expectations and respective contributions to the partnership, identify areas of possible collaboration and cooperation, and come up with a schedule for the implementation of partnership projects.
International environmental organisations have committed to matching the US government’s financial contribution to the partnership, and have announced plans to significantly expand their conservation programs to the 11 forest regions that have been identified as critical to biodiversity conservation in the Congo Basin. The other partners are expected to provide significant additional contributions to the partnership.
The Plan of Action adopted at WSSD included commitments that support dozens of partnership initiatives to help developing countries move toward sustainable development.
The major partnerships announced by the United States at the summit are aimed at reducing the number of people living without safe drinking water; improving sanitation; enhancing access to clean energy; reducing hunger and increasing agricultural productivity; ensuring universal access to basic education; stemming Aids and reducing TB and malaria; and managing and conserving forests and oceans.
All the partnerships announced at WSSD are linked to the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goal to halve poverty by 2015. – I-Net-Bridge