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The "One Forest Youth Forum (OFYF)" was held from 27 to 28 February 2023 in Libreville (Gabon) as a prelude to the One Forest Summit. The event was organized spontaneously by the youth, members of AGRIDIS and the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA Gabon) in collaboration with the National Youth Councils of ECCAS, the Youth Network for Central African Forests (REJEFAC), and a hundred NGOs and youth associations involved in the tackling of environmental, climate and forestry issues.
Themed under "Youth facing the challenges of the development of forest ecosystems", the OFYF was an innovative forum for the youth, an occasion for them to make a plea for the sustainable management of tropical forests on the sidelines of the "One Forest Summit" from March 1 to 2, 2023, which was co-organized by Gabon and France, and held in Libreville.
Indeed, the African youths who took part, had the ambition to produce a manifesto marking their commitment and willingness to actively engage in addressing the sustainable forest management related challenges, in the fight against climate change and the preservation of biodiversity.
The main outcome of the One Forest Youth Forum (OFYF) was France's pledge to provide 1,000,000 euros in funding aimed at supporting the volunteer and cross-mobility program for sustainable forest management and climate change adaptation.
It should be noted that this involvement of youth at such a high level is also the result of many years of hard advocacy work, which has not always been easy for youth actors in the Congo Basin. From the 2005 France-Africa Summit in Bamako, through the structuring of youth and their participation in the establishment of the youth council, followed by the re-launch of the Panafrican Youth Union, the United Nations network of young leaders, without forgetting the establishment of the Rejefac network in the years 2008, present in the 10 countries of the sub-region where the country focal points are empowered, it was necessary to move forward step by step by innovating and making adjustment as necessary.
The major innovations were: the initiative of the Congo Basin Forest Volunteers; the structuring of CBFP volunteers (DRC, Cameroon, Rwanda and Gabon) under American, Belgian and German facilitation; the participation of the REJEFAC regional coordinator in the Montpellier summit of young Africans with more than 80 young people from Cameroon; the intervention of one of the members of REJEFAC - CADER during Macron's visit to Yaoundé where a strong plea was made during the meeting with civil society.
Indeed, for the past twenty years, the regional coordinator Marie Tamoifo Nkom, together with her association Jeunesse Verte du Cameroun, has been underlining in most major gatherings, the need to involve the youth of African countries and more particularly of the COMIFAC - ECCAS zone in these global challenges. Although it earned the institutional recognition of REJEFAC with the signature of an MoU by MINFOF, the supervisory body of COMIFAC, and despite the lack of funding for their daily activities, it has succeeded in creating a large network of young people in the ten countries of the COMIFAC area, while remaining voluntary, gradually mobilizing financial support to sustain the hundreds of young volunteers of the associations involved. The young volunteers that it supervises have often been called to participate in the summits of the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP), such as recently in July 2022 in Gabon during the 19th Meeting of the Parties of the CBFP. Its national branch REJEFAC Gabon continued this initiative, mobilized by the organizers not only during the climate week but also during the One Forest Youth Forum and the One Forest Summit.
For 20 years, AJVC has been conducting activities in the field of advocacy with a bottom-up solutions approach, perfectly illustrated in a documentary that traces this atypical journey at the heart of this gathering of young people who have launched an appeal to States and Governments to change the paradigm and implement a strategy to support innovative solutions promoted by actors in the sub-region of the Congo Basin.
The youth forum, organized as a prelude to the One Forest Youth Forum by Gabonese youth, was intended to inspire young people. As part of the panel Research and innovation: what is contribution of the youth? Marie Tamoifo Nkom made a plea for green jobs and innovation in Africa to be supported by a financial system, capacity building on green jobs to sustain environmental diplomacy of youth.
"It is important to accompany the institutional anchoring of youth through programs that support green jobs, and that a sustainable participation mechanism is taken into account. In Glasgow and Sharm El Cheick, 100 billion euros were promised to the states per year. The youth believe that if this is implemented, a share should be directly allocated to youth institutions in the Congo Basin to support their innovations in a sustainable way. Marie Tamoifo Nkom, regional coordinator, with her association Jeunesse Verte.”
National strategies to fight climate change must therefore consider the role of civil society actors, women and youth. These interest groups should not be the only ones affected by the implementation of climate change mitigation and adaptation measures. Every effort should be made to involve them in decision-making processes, even if their participation may increase the complexity and cost of projects and policies.
"Progressively, the voice of African youth is being heard in major international forums on sustainable management. We have had the support of the French Cooperation, WWF and other partners to organize the AJVC initiative for REJEFAC "COPS AT HOME"; the participation of youth at the Cop 27; and the participation of REJEFAC as a partner in the initiative of the Gabonese youth-led event One Forest Youth Forum. Our hope is that REJEFAC will be able to organize and find financial partners who can directly support the organization of the general assemblies and the local and national cops in the ten (10) countries of the Congo Basin”. Marie Tamoifo.
REJEFAC's pleas in collaboration with the member organizations of the organizing committee were heard at the OFYF and as another key outcome of One Forest Youth, the Gabonese government, through the Ministry of Youth, made a promise to host the permanent secretariat of One Forest Youth Initiative in Libreville, and especially to spare no effort to make this project effective as soon as possible.
"The One Forest Summit will be an annual event that is going to be held in different countries around the world, so we can imagine that the One Forest Youth Forum will be an annual event, and will become de facto one of the programs of the One Forest Youth Initiative.”
Several personalities and high-level actors are ready to accompany One Forest Youth Initiative in its strategy of mobilization of the common fund to support its volunteer program and cross mobility sponsored by France Voluntary.
All this mobilization requires the involvement not only of the regional and international youth of today, but especially those of tomorrow.
"The next generation is on the move and is gradually being structured. A sub-regional meeting to hand over to the younger generation of committed leaders is planned for late 2023 or early 2024, with the participation of partners who have put youth at the heart of their action. We will continue this advocacy work to make sure the areas of experimentation, innovation and progress are better identified, and especially to support the vulnerability of local communities and youth through decent jobs and opportunities: Investing in youth is investing in the future of the continent.” Marie Tamoifo
Betting on the youth of ECCAS and COMIFAC countries is even more important. The climate challenge, the conservation of biodiversity, the development of African countries and a lack of jobs for young people are issues we are currently facing and that it is urgent to address. We hope that this One Forest Summit initiative will reach all youth organizations and structures in the sub-region and the world.
The Climate Chance Summit Africa 2023 will bring together on the 23rd, 24th and 2th of October 2023 at the Palais des Congrès in Yaounde 1,500 African actors from the "climate community": high-level personalities, experts, actors in the field, representatives of local governments, businesses and organised civil society.
Celebrations for World Environment Day 2023 kicked off in host-country Cote d’Ivoire, as millions of people prepare for similar activities across the world. Venues across the capital city, Abidjan – from its historic lagoon to its first modern art museum - shone the spotlight on this year’s theme #Beat Plastic Pollution.
Congo Basin Carbon brings together information on various research and education projects in the Yangambi and Luki MAB Reserves in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Through this website we hope to strengthen research networks and improve project visibility, specifically for carbon research. Tropical rainforests such as the forests of the Congo Basin comprise nearly half of the world’s vegetation carbon. Intact tropical forests represent a carbon sink at a level that is higher than other vegetation types. The issues of carbon stocks, sinks and sources in tropical forests are therefore a central topic in international policy debates on climate changes.
At last year’s United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP26), 141 leaders committed to halt and reverse forest loss and degradation by 2030. Forests, particularly tropical ones, are known to play a crucial role in removing carbon from the atmosphere, partially offsetting the effect of greenhouse gas emissions. This is a highly valuable service to the global climate, meaning the world should be willing to pay to ensure it happens. In this policy note, we look at just how valuable that service is, and put that in the context of aid efforts to protect forests.
During the process of photosynthesis, trees naturally absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Rainforests act as important 'carbon sinks' stemming global heating. The Congo rainforest is the planet’s most important “lung,” new data has revealed. The world’s rainforests absorb huge amounts of carbon dioxide, slowing down global warming.
The world is getting a better understanding of just how important forests are in the global fight against climate change. New research, published in Nature Climate Change and available on Global Forest Watch, found that the world’s forests sequestered about twice as much carbon dioxide as they emitted between 2001 and 2019. In other words, forests provide a “carbon sink” that absorbs a net 7.6 billion metric tonnes of CO2 per year, 1.5 times more carbon than the United States emits annually.
This brief describes the first efforts to integrate agroforestry with charcoal production in the Yangambi tropical forest landscape. Activities resulted in both increased food crop production and reforestation, as well as the establishment of producer-led local associations and greater collaboration between communities and local authorities.
The GEF Secretariat prepared this document to summarize the GEF’s potential role in a financial mechanism for the internationally legally binding instrument under negotiation under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ). The document is prepared to help inform deliberations. It also includes questions and answers to key issues raised thus far by countries. GEF’s role as Convention Financial Mechanism: The GEF serves as a/the financial mechanism for five Conventions, namely the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Minamata Convention on Mercury, Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Chemicals, UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), and UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
On May 8, 2023, in the BOUN'S Hotel conference, in Yaoundé, a workshop was held to launch the process of drawing up the Cameroon Country Investment Plan (CIP) on the nexus of transboundary transhumance, protected areas, peace and security, and development. Please download the final communiqué of the workshop...
Geneva and Yaoundé, 26 May 2023. The Ministry of Economy, Planning and Land Planning of Cameroon (MINEPAT) and CAFI are launching two Calls for Expressions of Interest today to all relevant implementing organisations concerned, representing a maximum of 60 million US$.
WWF is supporting the Government of Cameroon in her effort to restore more than 12 million hectares of degraded landscapes in the country. In 2017, the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife committed, on behalf of the Government of Cameroon, to restore 12,062,768 ha of degraded landscapes under AFR100 and the Bonn Challenge by 2030. Of these, 80% are in the three northern regions of Adamaoua, North and Far North; with the remainder in the high plateau, Centre region, vast forest and coastal areas (Mangroves).
As part of our ongoing commitment to promoting transparent and accountable governance of climate and environmental funds, we are pleased to invite you to two upcoming online sessions. These sessions will offer valuable insights, strategies, and best practices for combating corruption, and reinforce our collective efforts to create a more sustainable future. We hope you will join us for these important discussions.
International Day for Biological Diversity, celebrated each year on 22 May, is an opportunity to not only acknowledge the crucial role healthy biodiversity plays in the survival of the planet but also to assess the nature crisis. With the theme ‘From Agreement to Action: Build Back Biodiversity,’ this year’s Day follows the historic adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework by 196 nations at the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties in Montreal, Canada, in December 2022.
Bukavu, May 10, 2023 – The Kahuzi-Biega National Park (PNKB) is deeply saddened to announce the death of its ecoguard Alain Lukinga, born in Kakongya on June 12, 1989, who sacrificed his life for the protection of the PNKB in an armed clash in Cibumbiro between the villages of Kajeje and Lukananda in the Mudaka groupement, in Kabare territory in South Kivu.
From April 19 to 20, 2023 a workshop for the development of a national investment plan for Nigeria on transhumance and related topics was held in Abuja, NIGERIA. This workshop, funded by the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP) Facilitation of the Federal Republic of Germany, aimed to...
The SWM Programme is the first international initiative to tackle the wild meat challenge by addressing both wildlife conservation and food security. It is an initiative from the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), funded by the European Union with co-funding from the French Facility for Global Environment (FFEM) and the French Development Agency (AFD).
In a bid to boost indigenous people and local communities’ (IPLC) engagement in wildlife protection around Lobéké National Park in Southeast Cameroon, Lobéké Management has signed social pacts with 34 Bantu and Baka communities in the Park. Thirty-four social pacts were signed between the communities and the Lobeke Management in December 2022, with each pact corresponding to a community project worth FCFA 300,000.
This report highlights the impacts of direct as well as indirect deforestation through mining. It presents for the first time ever the deforestation embodied in the consumption of products and showcases the extensive deforestation potential that artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) can have on forest ecosystems.
A new toll road in Indonesia’s East Kalimantan province is under construction to improve access to the interior of Borneo, including to the nation’s new capital city, Nusantara. Construction of the road, however, poses immediate environmental risks, as the route cuts through a forested area with high conservation value that connects the Sungai Wain protected forest, coastal mangroves, and Balikpapan Bay. Prior to road construction, the integrated forest and coastal ecosystem supported populations of orangutans, sun bears, proboscis monkeys and Irrawaddy dolphins. Conservationists say the construction of this toll road belies the Indonesian government’s claims that the development of the new capital will be green and sustainable.
The tobacco industry causes a fifth of Zimbabwe’s forest loss. What is being done to minimise this? At the beginning of this century, the Zimbabwean government embarked on an audacious land reform programme, ostensibly to correct the injustices suffered by local people when the land was colonised. The controversial programme saw an estimated 170,000 black Zimbabwean families – mostly small-scale farmers – taking over agricultural production from about 3,000 white-owned farms.
SAN MARTÍN, Peru (AP) — The Cordillera Azul National Park on the eastern flank of the Peruvian Andes takes in a sweep of Amazon rainforest, mountains and waterfalls in a territory about the size of Connecticut, so precious that tens of millions of dollars in carbon credits have been sold in a program that supporters said would protect its trees.
To fight climate change and biodiversity loss, the new law obliges companies to ensure products sold in the EU have not led to deforestation and forest degradation. While no country or commodity will be banned, companies will only be allowed to sell products in the EU if the supplier of the product has issued a so-called “due diligence” statement confirming that the product does not come from deforested land or has led to forest degradation, including of irreplaceable primary forests, after 31 December 2020.
A number of reports have found that an Indonesian government program to establish large-scale agricultural plantations across the country has led to deforestation. More than 1,500 hectares (3,700 acres) of forests, including carbon-rich peatlands, have been cleared in Central Kalimantan province for the so-called food estate program, according to a spatial analysis by the NGO Pantau Gambut. Last year, the NGO Kaoem Telapak detected 100 hectares (250 acres) of deforestation in food estate areas in North Sumatra. Villagers whose lands have been included in the program have also reported an increase in the severity of floods since their forests were cleared to make way for the food estates.
Press release 3 May 2023 | The German government will make two billion euros available for the Green Climate Fund (GCF). German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced the commitment at the Petersberg Climate Dialogue in Berlin today. This makes Germany the first major donor to announce its contribution for the upcoming pledging conference for the Green Climate Fund. The conference will take place in Bonn on 5 October and will be chaired by Development Minister Svenja Schulze. The Green Climate Fund is one of the largest climate action funds of the world. The creation of the fund was an important objective of the developing countries, which have an equal say in how funds are spent on climate mitigation and adaptation projects in developing countries.
With GEF and LDCF support, Nespresso, IUCN, and TechnoServe are working together to promote more sustainable and resilient coffee farming practices in South Kivu. Antoinette Shabanyere’s 1,800-tree coffee farm in the South Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is at the forefront of efforts by local communities to adapt to climate change.
The Second Consultation Meeting (CM-2) for GCF’s second replenishment (GCF-2) was held on 27-28 April. Hosted by GCF and moderated by Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin, the replenishment facilitator, the two-day virtual meeting convened over 100 current and prospective contributors where they received updates on GCF and discussed matters related to the replenishment process.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Country Representative, Suze Percy-Filippini is impressed with the progress made by the department of Forestry in the implementation of the Forest Farm Facility –FFF Program in the Choma District of Southern Province.
This case study forms part of a series of six case studies on mobilizing internal finance within Forest and Farm Producer Organization (FFPOs) prepared by forest and farm FFPOs for the Forest and Farm Facility (FFF). It describes the Jwa Ngwaane Community Cooperative Credit Union, established by the Kassena Nankana Baobab Cooperative Union (KANBAOCU) through the mobilization of 96 Village Savings and Loans Associations.
The African Regional Exchange, a three-day workshop co-organized with CIFOR-ICRAF, the Kenya Forestry Research Institute and the Kenya Forest Service, brought together farmers, bankers, governments, and development partners from across Africa to discuss ways to ensure smallholder farmers have access to the finance they need to improve and scale up sustainable forest and farm management practices.
This agrobiodiversity case study (No.6) from Zambia is the sixth of six case studies prepared by forest and farm producer organisations (FFPOs) for the Forest and Farm Facility (FFF). It describes the actions of the Choma District Tree Nursery and Growers Association (CDTNA). CDTNA represents 111 members, either individual nursery growers or collective enterprises that furnish diverse tree seedlings for forest and agroforestry restoration projects across Southern Zambia.
Oyéoussi Charles Balogoun is the Africa Representative of the NGO Panel under the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). The Civil Society Panel (CSO Panel) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) represents nearly 500 organisations accredited to the Convention. Charles Balogoun is also the Global President and Chairman of the Board of the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Afrique Espérance. He answers ENVIRONNEMENTALES’s questions on the state of desertification in Africa.
A common vision of sustainable finance is being developed in Central Africa. The project is at the heart of an international forum scheduled for 8 and 9 May 2023 in Douala, Cameroon, under the theme « Trajectories towards sustainable finance ». An initiative of the Bank of Central African States (BEAC), in partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Sustainable Banking and Finance Network (SBFN).
Delegates to the Sixth Meeting of the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development emphasized the need for forward-looking, high-impact initiatives involving all relevant actors, to enable the structural transformations Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) needs to “resume and sustain the path to 2030.”
Kenya loses 2–2.4 percent of its gross domestic product annually due to the effects of climate change, such as drought and floods according to according to a 2018 Kenya National Bureau of Statistics study. Droughts alone cost the country 8 percent of GDP every five years. Arid and semi-arid rangelands (ASALs) occupy over 80 percent of Kenya’s landscape, and are home to about 36 percent of the total human population, and seventy per cent of the nation’s livestock and 90% of wildlife. Livestock's contributions account for 80 percent of household incomes in arid lands, and 65 percent in semi-arid lands.
Sitting at the forefront of the climate crisis, forest and farm producer organizations (FFPOs) have a vital role in supporting smallholder resilience and attaining climate change and biodiversity goals. Together, their members have a transformative potential to achieve sustainable development and respond to climate change at scale.