Central African forestry officials and representatives from international donors, including the United States, France, Italy, Germany, the UN Food and Agricultural Organization, the African Development Bank and public and private groups, met from 25-26 June 2004 in Brazzaville, Congo, at a long-delayed meeting to develop a regional strategy for sustainable management of the Central African countries’ eco-systems, especially the Congo Basin forest.

The Conference of Ministers in Charge of Central African Forests (COMIFAC) is recognized by the Congo Basin Forest Partnership, which was launched at the WSSD, as the central policy- and decision-making body for the conservation and sustainable management of forests in Central Africa. At a COMIFAC meeting held in Paris in January 2003, donors pledged US$300 million for a regional forestry strategy and agreed to meet in Brazzaville within three months. The Brazzaville meeting finally took place in June 2004, but it failed to establish a mechanism to fund an estimated $US 1.5 billion over the next 10 years. In addition, no new funding was announced and no one way of delivering funds to the COMIFAC effort was approved by donors. Several financing mechanisms have been discussed, including the creation of a common fund for the Congo Basin environment, the conversion of African nations’ debt into credits for conservation projects, and special taxes to be levied locally for conservation projects. The Congo Basin nations – Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon – have pledged 40% of the funding, but wish for the rest of the financing to come from partnerships with donor countries, NGOs and industry.
Links to further information
Terra Daily news story, 27 June 2004
Mail and Guardian story, 28 June 2004