New financing for the forests of the Congo Basin

The financing agreement, signed on 17 December in Libreville (Gabon), links the EU and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECOCAS). The budget, allocated by the 10th European Development Fund (EDF), is part of the renewal effort under the programme for the conservation and rational utilization of the natural ecosystems of the Congo Basin, especially its dense rainforests. 

Launched by the EU following the Rio Conference on the environment and development, ECOFAC is an attempt to reconcile sustainable development of human activity and effective forest conservation. It is operational in seven of the region’s counties: Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tomé, the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The programme’s first three phases, which received €78M from the EDF, made it possible to set up a network of protected forest areas totalling 28,000 km². Since phase four, the programme has paid more attention to the link between conserving natural resources and combating poverty in a region where more than 65 million people depend on forests to survive. 

Phase four also saw the now peaceful DRC become an active network member, making it possible to restore infrastructure at four natural sites of global importance: the Virunga, Garamba, Salonga and Upemba National Parks. The programme is also strengthening the training courses at the Regional Post-Graduate Training School on Integrated Management of Tropical Forests and Lands (ERAIFT) and Kisangani University’s Faculty of Science.