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Fern and 15 EU NGOs working on climate, environment, social justice and sustainable development issues have come together to welcome EU support for partner countries. The NGO statement in support of local communities, vulnerable groups and those on the frontlines of the pandemic in partner countries asks the EU global response to reinforce the Green Deal, and calls for solidarity, transparency, inclusiveness and equity at all stages of the response. Importantly, NGO partners in target regions stand ready to help.
Since the pandemic broke out, European leaders have agreed the Global EU response to COVID-19, recovery, and stimulus packages to mitigate the social, economic and health impacts of the crisis in partner countries. A growing number of stakeholders, including EU environment ministers and the European Parliament are asking that the initiative be complemented by stronger measures on climate and the environment.
The links between environmental destruction, human encroachment into habitat and viral diseases has been recognised for years. Increasingly, the world’s land is being used for agriculture, mining and infrastructure, with tropical forests bearing the brunt of the dramatic changes, suffering high rates of agricultural conversion. Any EU support for recovery in partner countries must therefore integrate climate, biodiversity objectives and Sustainable Development Goals.
As EU NGOs have indicated, local communities and civil society groups should be closely involved in monitoring progress to ensure that commitments become concrete action, to avoid duplication and to improve accountability.
Fern’s partners are ready to offer their help: by giving practical advice, opening their address books, relaying information to far-flung communities and ensuring those playing a crucial role maintaining households throughout the crisis are fully involved.
Foundation for Community Initiatives (FCI) and SDI Liberia providing Covid-19 care packages to rural forest communities
Partner NGOs already have networks that could be put in motion to contribute to the COVID response. For instance, across the four forest regions of the Central African Republic, a heavily aid-dependent and post-conflict country, Centre pour l’Environnement et le Développement Durable (CIEDD) is coordinating members of a civil society platform (Gestion Durable des Ressources Naturelles et de l’Environnement: GDRNE) to build on existing ties with Indigenous and local communities not only to exchange information on ongoing consultations for the Voluntary Partnership Agreement, REDD+ and Nationally Determined Contributions but also to inform them of the pandemic and help them prepare. In Liberia, the Foundation for Community Initiatives and Sustainable Development Institute (SDI) are now working with some 50 communities in Sinoe, Grand Bassa, Grand Gedeh, Margibi, Gbarpulo, Nimba, Lofa and Rivercess Counties to create awareness and help with COVID-19 response. In Cameroon, the Centre pour l’Environnement et le Développement (CED) has approached 20 rural communities in Southern Dja and in the Ocean. Such efforts exist in other regions also.
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.
Deforestation continues at a worrying pace worldwide, except in temperate and boreal countries. It is caused by the race for land, underpinned by population growth and rising global demand for “deforestation-prone” products. Moreover, with climate change, mega-fires are now posing unprecedented threats to forests.
The Marseille Manifesto aims to capture a limited number of key messages that are globally and currently relevant and which relate to the Congress proceedings, including any notable and important commitments and announcements that emerged from Congress events. The focus is on the post-Covid recovery, the biodiversity crisis and climate emergency.
Following four busy and inspirational days of work, the Forum concluded its deliberations. During another bustling day, participants attended thematic sessions and high-level dialogues during the morning. In the afternoon, seven thematic plenaries outlined the main take-home messages from the Forum’s discussions, followed by the official Forum closing plenary.
While 2019 saw a general rise in all types of financial assets, 2020 turned out to be a tumultuous year. The coronavirus pandemic triggered sharp falls in February- March, followed by a sharp rebound from the end of March to the end of August, thanks to unprecedented monetary and fiscal support from the world’s major central banks and governments. The second wave of Covid-19 permitted further corrections in September and October, before a year-end upturn linked to excellent news on the vaccine front.
We hereby invite you to join the ceremony online. Due to the current German restrictions related to Covid-19, participation is made possible virtually. Please use the following link to follow the ceremony online on September 7th, at 10:00 a.m. CEST....
Let's commit together to "save the world's last lung and net positive tropical carbon balance" ... Download your invitation...
High-Level Event on International Engagement for the Protection of the Congo Basin Ecosystems and their vicinity. Theme: · Biodiversity and climate finance for the Congo basin rainforest and their vicinity, as a cost-effective nature-based solution. Date: September 05, 2021. September 5, 2021... Please download the press invitations...
To read: 'My hope is to see international action match the critical need'; Take part in the IUCN World Conservation Congress; GEF publishes data on IATI platform in transparency push; Integrated programming in the Global Environment Facility
The Collaborative Partnership on Sustainable Wildlife Management (CPW) is hosting its Third Wildlife Forum with the aim of exploring how to support the implementation of the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework ahead of the Fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP15) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to be held in Kunming, China.
Written by a group of experts specializing in conservation in Central Africa, with the financial support of the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OEACP) and the European Union (EU), through the BIOPAMA and RIOFAC projects, as well as GIZ, “Protected Areas of Central Africa: Status 2020” follows a first edition published in 2015, which has now become the flagship publication on protected areas in the region.
The French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs is pleased to invite you, in person or virtually, to the event organized on Wednesday 8 September at 6.30 p.m. at the French Pavilion on the occasion of the IUCN World Congress in Marseille: "Alliance for the conservation of rainforests".
The French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, The Gabonese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The National Group for Rainforests, the French Advisers for Foreign Trade and Africa Business Forum, Institut Choiseul, all supporting the Alliance for the Conservation of Rainforests, request the pleasure of your participation, during the IUCN World Congress in Marseille, to the event they jointly organize on Monday, September 6 at 5pm on the French pavilion, in person and virtually : "Creation of a Business Forum for implementation of sustainable value chains in Africa".
The Tropical Forest Symposium is therefore aimed at policy makers (in Germany and abroad), the German and international (expert) public as well as at tropical forest countries and donor nations. Please find the invitation to the Tropical Forest Symposium, which you can follow online on September 8th, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m CEST.
Indigenous territories in the Bolivian, Brazilian and Colombian Amazon avoid between 42.8 million and 59.7 million metric tons of CO2 emissions per year. To commemorate the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, David Kaimowitz explains why it’s time to join forces with indigenous peoples for the good of the planet.
On 17 February this year, Aruká Juma, the last elder of the Juma people in Brazil’s Amazonian rainforest, died of COVID-19. According to NGO Instituto Socioambiental, he is one of more than a thousand indigenous people to have died from the virus in Brazil, where COVID-19 has affected more than 150 native groups.
Ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns has been one of the greatest global challenges over the past fifty years. With the adoption of Sustainable Development Goal 12, “Ensure sustainable consumption and production,” and rising interest in the circular economy model, there is an opportunity to set systems-wide goals for all societies, recognizing that key drivers and solutions lie in our economic, financial and governance decision-making.
The 9th Meeting of the CBFP Governing Council was held on Friday 16 July 2021 in Douala Cameroon by video conference at the Hotel La Falaise. This meeting was part of the CBFP's cooperation framework, which provides for the CBFP Council to meet twice a year, and followed Experts Meeting to follow up on the N'Djamena Conference on the development of country investment plans focusing on zoonoses, transhumance, the fight against cross-border poaching, security and sustainable development between the Sahel and the Congo Basin, which was held from 12 to 15 July 2021 at the same venue.
The matter of the Democratic Republic of the Congo taking over the rotating chairmanship of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) in 2022 was discussed by President Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo and Mr. Gilberto Da Piedade Verrissimo, Chairman of the sub-regional economic organization’s commission on Monday, 2 August 2021 at the City of the African Union.
Videoconference, 30 July 2021 – Convened by His Excellency Denis SASSOU-NGUESSO, President of the Republic of the Congo, Head of State, Current Chair of the Conference of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the XIXth Ordinary Session of the Conference of Heads of State and Government of ECCAS took place.
We are pleased to inform you that INTERHOLCO's headquarters are moving to a new office in Baar. Effective Monday, 23 August 2021, our new business address will be as follows: Neuhofstrasse 25, 6340 Baar, Switzerland. Business hours and telephone numbers will stay the same. Please update your contact book.
Central Africa currently has more than 200 protected areas covering a total of 800 000 km², or twice the size of Cameroon. Across the 10 countries of the region, the number and size of protected areas have doubled in the last 20 years.
The Minister of Environment, Sustainable Development and the Congo Basin Arlette SOUDAN-NONAULT, granted an audience to Dr Christian RUCK, Facilitator of the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP) on Tuesday, July 13, 2021.
The Working Group I contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report is the most up-to-date physical understanding of the climate system and climate change, bringing together the latest advances in climate science, and combining multiple lines of evidence from paleoclimate, observations, process understanding, and global and regional climate simulations.
Please download the July newsletter of the Dzanga Sangha Protected Areas. This month, some good news. On the one hand, no cases of COVID 19 have been detected in the region and the possibility of reopening the Park to tourism is being considered.
Slated to hold from 3 to 5 August 2021 in Brazzaville (Congo), the workshop will gather agriculture and forestry experts from the 11 ECCAS member countries, representatives of the African Union, COMIFAC, NEPAD, civil society organizations, and development partners (UNESCO, FAO, UNDP, BDEAC, CIFOR), among others.
Berlin, August 05, 2021, Sweden has officially joined the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP). In this connection, Sweden believes its activities in Africa fall in line with the principles outlined in the cooperation framework of CBFP members and COMIFAC’s convergence plan with which it has familiarised itself, aimed at promoting sustainable management of ecosystems and conservation of biodiversity in Central Africa.
Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of Congo, hosted a series of three workshops from 14 to 25 June 2021 at the Hotel PEFACO Maya Maya. The first workshop focused on the planning and consultation of the Network of Young Leaders for the Sustainable Management of Central African Forest Ecosystems (REJEFAC), the second on the Network of Parliamentarians for the Sustainable Management of Central African Forest Ecosystems (REPAR) and the third on the African Women's Network for Sustainable Development (REFADD).
The Honourable Dr. Christian Ruck, Federal Republic of Germany CBFP Facilitator gives a new impetus to the implementation of the N'Djaména Declaration - Douala (Cameroon) - 12 to 15 July 2002, an Expert follow-up meeting to the N’Djamena Conference was held to develop country investment plans geared towards transboundary transhumance, zoonoses, the fight against transboundary poaching, security and sustainable development between the Sahel and the Congo Basin. The Country Expert Meeting was held with the financial support of the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the technical support of the Federal Republic of Germany CBFP Facilitation and the German Technical Cooperation (GIZ), GIZ BSB Yamoussa Project. The Press Release, the proposed political / institutional support, the roadmap for country investment plans and N’Djamena 2 and the task force specifications are available for download on the CBFP website...
On 19 July 2021, during its 44th session, the World Heritage Committee decided to remove Salonga National Park (Democratic Republic of the Congo) from the List of World Heritage Sites in Danger due to improvements in its state of conservation.
The human-wildlife conflict report: “A future for all: the need for human-wildlife coexistence” was published on July 8, detailing the complex nature of human-wildlife conflict, its impacts and how to address them so that people and animals can coexist peacefully. This pack raises awareness of the report, its significance and encourages people to raise greater awareness on the issue.
Results of the work of the geographical block WEST. Please download the Document here below:
Results of the work of the geographical block WEST. Please download the Document here below:
Results of the work of the geographical block CENTER. Please download the Document here below:
The weather in DS continues to be strange this year. In principle we should be going through a short dry period within the rainy season at the moment, for the rains to restart in August but the reality is that the rainy season has not yet started. There is so much uncertainty on what will happen now.
The Green Climate Fund (GCF) Board at its twenty-ninth meeting, has allocated USD 500 million in GCF resources for new climate projects, and taken significant steps to strengthen results management for its growing portfolio. During the meeting, four (04) new climate projects were approved and will mobilise a total sum of USD 2,949 million for climate action in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, with three of the four new projects targeting support to the most vulnerable countries including Least Developed Countries, Small Island Developing States, and African states.