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On May 29, 2020, about thirty participants representing the members of the CBFP's Scientific and Academic College took part in a virtual meeting convened by the College's Leaders CIFOR and IRET. The agenda of the meeting focused on introducing the road map of the current CBFP Facilitation as well as the ongoing participative consultation process. Furthermore, other current matters in the College such as the impact of Covid 19 on work of College members were discussed.
please download the Document here below:
200529_Report_Scientific College Meeting.pdf (130.0 KiB)
Chaired by College Co-Leaders Richard Atyi & Donald Iponga
Alain Karsenty, Anne-Julie Rochette, Aurelian Mbzibain, Benoit Mertens, Christiane Käsgen (observatory), David Montgomery, Ehabe Eugene, Bryan Featherstone, Eric Forni, Mary Gonder, Sylvie Gourlet-Fleury, Guillaume Lescuyer, Jennifer Cohen, Luc Janssens de Bisthoven, Maarten Vanhove, Mike Skuja Bioko, Robert Nasi, Désiré Nkwinkwa, Richard Nyirenda, Pascal Boeckx, Pierre Defourny, Denis Sonwa, Vivien Rossi, Christian Ruck (CBFP Facilitator), Iven Schad (CBFP Facilitation team), Raymond Mbitikon (CBFP Co-Facilitator), Dany Pokem (CBFP Facilitation team), Johannes Haas (CBFP Facilitation team)
After College Co-Leaders and meeting Co-Chairs Richard Atyi and Donald Iponga welcomed all participants and Dr Christian Ruck, Facilitator of the Federal Republic of Germany to the CBFP who is present for his first full meeting with the Scientific College, the German Facilitation gave a brief technical introduction into holding digital meetings in times of the current global pandemic.
Facilitator Dr Christian Ruck then introduced himself and his team to the Scientific College. Dr Ruck gave a brief introduction to the German Facilitation´s road map for the upcoming two years which was elaborated with partners and welcomed by the acting COMIFAC President as well as COMIFAC´s Executive Secretary. Dr Ruck stressed the importance of continuing the work of preceding facilitations and of building up on previous efforts of the Partnership. He named the implementation of the N´Djamena declaration and a strengthened dialogue with Chinese partners as two important examples. Dr Ruck outlined the crucial importance of upcoming international conferences like UNFCCC and CBD COPs as well as EU summits with Africa and China, respectively, under German EU Council presidency and stressed that future international environmental policies will be strongly influenced by these summits. He underlined that the Facilitation intends to work for a unified voice of Congo Basin for mentioned conferences and preparatory negotiations. According to the Facilitator, particularly important topics during these talks and during the German Facilitation period will include biodiversity conservation and protected area management, sustainable land use, ecotourism, Forest Landscape Restoration or an appropriate payment for the globally relevant services the forest ecosystems of the Congo Basin provide to the world. Furthermore, Dr Ruck stressed that to push the Congo Basin on the international agenda with regard to mentioned topics and other subject areas, scientific input will be needed. In that regard, he invited and strongly encouraged the Scientific College to contribute to the ongoing consultation process by means of answers to the technical questionnaire sent out to all CBFP members. The consultation and negotiation process is planned to move forward and presence meetings are to be held as soon as the Covid-19 pandemic allows for them.
In more detail, the consultation process shall be organized as follows:
Co-Chair Richard Atyi stressed importance of the mentioned consultation process and invited College members to contribute as scientific advice and expertise is crucially necessary to guide political decisions.
College members asked how the answers to the questionnaire will be used and if answers will be forwarded also to other colleges. In response, Facilitator Dr Ruck explained that the Facilitation will elaborate a methodology for each step of the consultation process. He mentions that it is so far not planned to publish them in the form of a scientific paper.
Further questions from the college concerned the intended outcome of the consultation process as specification could help College members in elaborating contributions. Facilitator Dr Ruck stated that the objective of a common position of the CBFP remains very clear and that the negotiation process will need to be based on scientific evidence from the College. At the same time, he made clear that it is not possible to foresee how negotiations will evolve. As a consequence, the work process will have to adopt to this and will develop step by step. The Facilitator mentioned that it is impossible to say now how far the negotiation process will go but that the Facilitation will try to push it as far as possible. The Facilitation team added that it is an additional objective of the Facilitation to dynamize intra-college interaction in the CBFP and that a clearer idea on how communication between colleges is to be organized will be elaborated.
Discussion continued on how CBFP will factor in resilience of Congo Basin forests in a post Covid-19 world and if it should become part of priorities of the CBFP. Christian Ruck explained that the technical questionnaire also included a part on Covid 19 and that all further input on Covid would be much welcome. The College mentioned two initiatives of the COVID-19 Task Force of the Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities and the Distributed System of Scientific Collections, namely (1) a horizon scanning exercise on research priorities on pathogen transmission, and (2) and exploration on how biodiversity collections can be better integrated into understanding and preventing emerging infectious diseases in general. Information on both initiatives was forwarded to all participants after the call via email.
On general matters, CIDT announced to organize a forest governance forum in DRC in November and stated that active involvement of the College would be very welcome. A concept note will be shared in June.
CIRAD asked if a planned project on preserving a forest continuum ("trame forestière") throughout Central Africa could be forwarded to other Colleges. Facilitator Dr Ruck welcomed the idea.
The College discussed if a side event of the CBFP Scientific College should be organized during the upcoming CBD COP. In that regard, Christian Ruck confirmed that the Facilitation plans a presence at CBD and UNFCC COPs as well as at other international conferences like the next IUCN World Conservation Congress. He underlined that active support from partners will be necessary and that planning is also dependent on Covid 19.
CIDT announced that the summer school planned for this summer had been pushed to next year due to the Covid 19-pandemic.
Before closing the meeting, Co-Chair Richard Atyi asked for further contributions and then thanked the participants for their time and availability.
For more Information, please download the Document here below:
The meeting between the CBFP Facilitator of the Federal Republic of Germany, Honorable Dr. Christian Ruck, and the members of the College of International NGOs of the CBFP took place this Tuesday, March 7, 2023, without taboos and with an open heart.
On Wednesday, February 8 at 15.00 CET (Berlin, Brussels, Kinshasa Time) on MS Team, the partners and co-leaders of the Eastern Block of the follow-up of the implementation of the N'Djaména Declaration on Transhumance held their first coordination meeting of the year 2023. This meeting followed the meeting of the Central block on Tuesday, January 31, 2023.
On Wednesday, March 8, at 3:00 p.m. (Yaoundé time) on MS Team, in anticipation of the end of the German CBFP Facilitation scheduled for July 2023, and with a view to preparing the handover from the German Facilitation to the France-Gabon Co-Facilitation, the Facilitator of the Federal Republic of Germany, Honorable Dr. Christian Ruck, held a meeting with the members of the Intergovernmental College and Multilateral Institutions of the CBFP.
Bujumbura, March 14, 2023, The CBFP Facilitator from the Federal Republic of Germany, Honorable Dr. Christian Ruck, took the floor at the 11th Ordinary Session of the Council of Ministers of the Central African Forest Commission (COMIFAC), held from March 14 to 17, 2023 in Bujumbura, Burundi. The council was organized by COMIFAC in close collaboration with the Burundian Ministry of Environment, Agriculture and Livestock, and with the financial support of the German cooperation through the GIZ project.
Bujumbura, Burundi, March 17, 2023 - The opening of the ministerial segment of the eleventh COMIFAC Council of Ministers was marked by the handover ceremony of the Chairmanship between the Republic of Cameroon, outgoing Chair, and the Republic of Burundi, incoming Chair, represented by Pr Sanctus NIRAGIRA, Minister of the Environment, Agriculture and Livestock of the Republic of Burundi in the presence of the Prime Minister, Head of Government Lieutenant General Gervais NDIRAKOBUCA, Heads of Institutions, Ambassadors of COMIFAC member countries, technical and financial partners, regional and international organizations, and the business community.
On Wednesday, 1st of March 2023 from 12:00 to 13:30, the strategy meeting of the international coalition "Biodiversity Corridors in Africa" took place during the One Forest Summit. Please download below the minutes in English and French.
Bujumbura, Republic of Burundi, March 14, 2023 - The experts' segment of the 11th session of the Council of Ministers of the Central African Forest Commission (COMIFAC) was opened by Prof. Sanctus NIRAGIRA, Minister of Environment, Agriculture and Livestock of the Republic of Burundi.
The Wildlife Conservation Society Central African Republic Program is deeply saddened by the death of Mr. Éric Rama Doungous, Ecoguard team leader and head of the Base Vie location in Bamingui. He died Monday, March 20, after he and his team, on patrol in the western sector of Bamingui-Bangoran National Park, were ambushed by armed bandits.
Bujumbura, Republic of Burundi, March 13-14, 2023 - The sub-regional workshop on the results of the 27th Conference of the Parties (COP) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) ended today.
Organized by KfW on the occasion of the mission in Yaounde of the CBFP Facilitator of the Federal Republic of Germany, Honorable Dr. Christian Ruck, this meeting was in line with the meetings of the Consultation Circle of MINFOF and MINEPDED Partners (CCPM), whose activities were re-launched after a slowdown due mainly to the COVID crisis. It took place on Tuesday, January 25, 2022 at Hotel La Falaise in Yaoundé, still within the framework of the visit of the CBFP facilitator to Cameroon.
"Since March 1, 2023, the United Kingdom has taken over the chairmanship of the Central African Forest Initiative, CAFI, following Germany. The UK's new role in CAFI follows on from the work done at the COP26 summit in Glasgow, Scotland, which highlighted the importance of the Congo Basin.
As the world races to mitigate global warming, agricultural expansion generally characterized by the practice of slash and burn has been identified as the topmost driver of deforestation that leads to carbon emission in the world’s largest carbon sink. In a new report titled Congo Basin Forests – State of the Forests 2021 produced by the Central Africa Forest Observatory (OFAC), experts say population growth puts fresh pressure on the forests of Central Africa and consequently reduce carbon stock as thousands of arrival of agrarian households into forest areas leads to clearing to establish farmlands. The experts also listed logging, territorial development, land use, governance and need for energy as other factors driving deforestation.
The Green Climate Fund (GCF) and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH have signed an agreement with the Government of Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR) for a USD 79.3 million project (USD 35.2 million in GCF financing), to address a much-needed transition to the climate resilient management of forests and landscapes at scale.
GCF and the World Bank have signed an instrumental legal agreement to rapidly begin implementing the second phase of a renewable energy facility. It will support nine countries in meeting their NDC commitments while increasing access to electricity for the most vulnerable populations. The mitigation/adaptation cross-cutting Facility aims to also increase the reliability of the grid infrastructure, improving the country’s economic resilience, and the resilience of vulnerable households to better adapt to the devastating impacts of climate change.
On 5 January 2023, during the ceremony to present New Year’s greetings to the President of the Republic of Congo, Denis Sassou N’Guesso reiterated the announcement he had made at the 27th United Nations Climate Conference (COP27) in Egypt. In his capacity as president of the Congo Basin Climate Commission, he announced that the summit of the world’s three major forest basins would be held in Brazzaville in June 2023. The Congo Basin in Central Africa, the Amazon Basin in South America and the Borneo Mekong Basin in Southeast Asia.
Bujumbura, Republic of Burundi, March 17, 2023, under the high patronage of His Excellency Major Evariste NDAYISHIMIYE, President of the Republic, Head of State of Burundi, the eleventh ordinary session of the Council of Ministers of the Central African Forest Commission (COMIFAC) was held on March 17, 2023 in Bujumbura, Republic of Burundi.
As part of an effort to operationalize an integrated landscape approach in southern Zambia, the COLANDS (Collaborating to operationalize landscape approaches for nature, development, and sustainability) initiative has been developing and applying new tools and techniques designed to understand and integrate stakeholder visions for the Kalomo Hills Forest Reserve landscape.
The General Secretariat for Land Management has launched the study on the national forestry capital for the preparation of the national scheme of land management of the Democratic Republic of Congo. This study, which is expected to take1 year, aims at determining the ecological (conservation), economic and social potentials of the forest massifs for the whole national territory. The launching ceremony took place this Tuesday, March 14, in Kinshasa.
The thirty-fifth meeting of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) Board has ended with the approval of USD 587.7 million in new climate finance for developing nations, as well as the selection of a new Executive Director. Mafalda Duarte has been selected as the next Executive Director of GCF, with Henry Gonzalez, GCF Deputy Executive Director, appointed to serve as interim Executive Director until Duarte starts her tenure with GCF. The outgoing Executive Director Yannick Glemarec is reaching the end of his four-year term and will leave GCF on 2 April 2023.
“Working on gender issues requires the ability to understand questions such as ‘why’ and ‘how’,” said Stibniati Atmadja, Ethiopia’s Country Lead for the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)’s Women’s Land Rights Initiative (WLR). “Qualitative data is key for this – but collecting and analyzing such data is a major skill gap in many countries.”
The third international conference of parliamentarians on the sustainable management of Central African forest ecosystems was held in Libreville, Gabon, from 27 to 28 February 2023.
On tuesday, March 7, 2023 at 11:00 am CET (Berlin, Brussels, Kinshasa Time) the partners, leaders and co-leaders of the Western Block held their last coordination meeting online, on the follow-up of the implementation of the Declaration on Transhumance across borders, on MS Teams.
The Green Climate Fund (GCF) Board has selected Mafalda Duarte as its new Executive Director. Following an extensive global recruitment process, the Board made the selection during its thirty-fifth meeting at the GCF headquarters in Songdo, Incheon, Republic of Korea.
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.
Jean Christophe Bokika Ngawolo, Chairperson of the Executive Committee of the NGO Mbou-Mon-Tour, was among the few personalities to speak at the One Forest Summit in the presence of various heads of state including Emmanuel Macron, Denis Sassou Nguesso and Ali Bongo. His organization was created in 1997 by a few university executives from the village of Nkala, in the territory of Bolobo (Maï-Ndombe). This territory has one of the highest densities of bonobos, an endemic species of the country and endangered according to the IUCN Red List.
The Central African Forest Commission (COMIFAC) in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, Agriculture and Livestock of Burundi and with the financial support of the German cooperation through the GIZ project to support COMIFAC are organizing the eleventh ordinary session of its Council of Ministers from 14 to 17 March 2023 in Bujumbura, Republic of Burundi.
In order to improve the efficiency of the management of Protected Areas, the DRC, with the involvement of its partners, had invested in the BIOPAMA project in order to contribute to the development of the IMET tool "Integrated Management Effectiveness Tool". The use of the IMET tool in 18 DRC Protected Areas, for an overall frequency of 33 assessments, contributed to the diagnosis of management problems and to generate structured information to guide decision making for the change of the conservation status.
In line with the CBFP "Fair Deal", the OFS advocates for "A fair deal" between forest countries and the international community: "Time for payment for services rendered to the rest of the world (with the support of the secretariat of the High Ambition for Nature and Peoples (HAC) has come. In return for the commitment of forest countries, the international community will make available more funding, but also a mechanism for payment for the services rendered by nature kept intact, including carbon sequestration.”
Tuesday, January 31, 2023 at 11:30 am (Bangui time) the first coordination meeting of the year 2023 of the partners Co-leaders of the Bloc Centre for the follow-up of the implementation of the Declaration of N'Djaména on Transhumance, took place on MS Team.
For developing countries who are part of the UN’s REDD+ scheme (to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and foster conservation, sustainable management of forests, and enhancement of forest carbon stocks), establishing baseline forest reference emission levels (FREL) is essential obligation to track progress towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions. FREL covers emissions from deforestation and – in some countries – from forest degradation and peat decomposition. In countries like Indonesia, Peru, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and the Republic of Congo (RoC), that have large amounts of standing forest – and which can contribute significantly to a country’s emissions due to land-use change – these reference levels are particularly critical.
Ghana has become the second country in Africa after Mozambique to receive payments from a World Bank trust fund for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, commonly known as REDD+. The World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) paid Ghana $4,862,280 for reducing 972,456 tons of carbon emissions for the first monitoring period under the program (June to December 2019).
Douala, Republic of Cameroon, February 23, 2023- The Executive Secretary of COMIFAC, Mr. Hervé Martial MAIDOU, today presided over the opening ceremony of the fourteenth workshop of the Sub-Group on Protected Areas and Wildlife (SGTAPFS).
Paris, 27 February 2023 – The One Forest Summit will be held in Libreville, Gabon, on 01-02 March, with the goal of making progress on climate action and protecting biodiversity by promoting solidarity between the three major forest basins of the world. Director General Audrey Azoulay will attend to highlight UNESCO’s unique mandate to protect forest areas and numerous conservation programs.
Mungu Amurinde Jeanne d’Arc, a resident of Rubavu District in the Western Province of Rwanda has expressed special gratitude to the President of Rwanda Paul Kagame for the positive impacts brought by the Sebeya Catchment conservation project.
Baroness Scotland is head of the Commonwealth Secretariat - the organisation's main intergovernmental agency. Getty Image. The Commonwealth Secretary-General, Rt Hon Patricia Scotland KC, will be in Gabon from Wednesday 1 March to highlight the importance of protecting global biodiversity at the One Forest Summit in Libreville on Thursday.