COP29 Congo Basin: high-level dialogue

The forests of Central Africa: Mobilising the region and international community to preserve the Congo Basin’s forests and biodiversity  

High-level multi-stakeholder dialogue of the Central African Forest Commission and the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP) between representatives of donor countries, civil society, the private sector, science, INGOs and multilaterals in dialogue with representatives of Central African countries.’

CO-ORGANISERS - Partner organisations: Central African Forests Commission (COMIFAC), Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), co-Facilitation of the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP): France-Gabon, United Nations Forum on Forests Secretariat (UNFF); Forest & Climate Leaders’ Partnership (FCLP) and the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI).

Theme of the event: Nature-based solutions - The role of forests in the fight against climate change: The forests of Central Africa - the world's first functional tropical lung, with a net positive balance of 610 MtCo2 - are a low-cost solution in the fight against climate change and are real carbon reservoirs, storing more than 60 billion tCo2 including 30 billion tCo2 in their peat bogs. 

CO-CHAIRS: His Excellency Mr Prosper Dodiko, Minister for the Environment, Agriculture and Livestock, Burundi, current Chairman of COMIFAC, Her Excellency Mrs. Salina Grenet-Catalano, Co-Facilitator of the Congo Basin Forest Partnership for the Republic of France and Her Excellency Dr Aurélie Flore Koumba Pambo, Ambassador-at-Large for Climate, Environment and Sustainable Development of Gabon, Co-Facilitator of the CBFP for the Gabonese Republic

DESCRIPTION: The COMIFAC - ECCAS - CBFP – CAFI-UNFF Secretariat multi-stakeholder dialogue will promote the forests of Central Africa as a source of solutions in the fight against climate change. It aims to speed up the implementation of the commitments made in the 2021 COMIFAC declaration entitled ‘Declaration of commitment by the COMIFAC member states for the forests of Central Africa and call for equitable financing’, known as the ‘Fair Deal’, and the COP26 joint declaration by the Congo Basin donors of 1.5 billion US dollars entitled ‘Supporting the protection and sustainable management of the forests of the Congo Basin’. The session will call for concrete and effective action to protect and sustainably manage the forests of the Congo Basin, present the results of the Congo Basin Pledge contributions in 2023 and share thinking about what comes after the Congo Basin Pledge after COP30 in 2025:

The discussions at this event will make it possible to:

• Present the actions of COMIFAC countries for the conservation and sustainable management of Central Africa's forests as a nature-based solution in the fight against climate change;
• Testimony on the Fair Deal;
• Present the results of the Congo Basin Pledge’s contribution in calendar year 2023
•  Share ideas of what we can learn from the current pledge and what should happen next after COP30 next year in the framework of the “Fair Deal”;
• Better coordination and mobilisation of all stakeholders for the forests of Central Africa.
• Interactive discussion on the elements of a medium- and long-term vision on how to coordinate and implement the principle of fair, adequate and equitable Finance ‘Fair Deal’

This high-level event will bring together representatives of donor countries, civil society, the private sector, INGOs and multilaterals in dialogue with representatives of Central African countries.

Summary: The protection, sustainable management and restoration of forests are essential elements of a viable pathway to achieving the international community's 1.5-degree target for the climate.  Absorbing around 1.1 billion tCO2 per year into the atmosphere, or around 4% of global emissions each year, Central Africa remains one of the only regions in the world that absorbs more carbon than it emits (Net Flow of 610 million tCo2) and has a carbon storage sequestering around 60 billion tCo2 including 30 billion tCo2 in its peatlands.  So, action to support the protection of the world's leading lung in terms of the net positive carbon balance of tropical basins, its peatlands and other ecosystems, is essential to efforts to limit global warming. 

The aim of the CBFP- COMIFAC - ECCAS – CAFI-UNFF multi-stakeholder dialogue is to speed up the implementation of the commitments made in the September 2021 “Declaration of Commitment of COMIFAC Member States to the Central African forests and Call for Equitable Financing”, also known as the ‘Fair Deal’. This Declaration was the basis for the commitment made by the financial partners at COP 26 in Glasgow to ‘Support the protection and sustainable management of the Congo Basin forests’, with a joint financial commitment of 1.5 billion for the period 2025-2025 (Congo Basin Pledge 1.0). This event at COP 29 will advocate concrete and effective actions in favour of the protection and sustainable management of the Congo Basin forests as a nature-based solution for the climate, present the Fair Deal between the international community and the COMIFAC countries and facilitate interactive discussions on the elements of a medium- and long-term vision on how to coordinate and mobilise stakeholders and implement the Fair Deal. The session will also serve as a framework for ‘sharing of ideas’ of what we can learn from the current Congo Basin Pledge 1.0 (2021-2025) and what should happen next in the framework of the “Fair Deal”: Current thinking on the ‘Fair Deal’ towards new commitments by the Partnership for the Central African forest region with a view to COP 30 in Belem.

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