CONGO BASIN FOREST PARTNERSHIP

Information Bulletin N° 2 /08

The CBFP information bulletin, edited by the German Facilitation, offers a regular update on the partnership's activities, important events and an overview of our partners' latest publications and documents.

This issue's topics :

• CBFP - a strong voice for good forest governance
• CBFP and the country applying for the COMIFAC presidency prepare for the next Council of Ministers
• Recent events and achievements
• ....and upcoming agenda items
• Readers' corner: our partners' publications

CBFP - a strong voice for good forest governance

The CBFP facilitator expresses himself firmly on forest governance and the private sector's responsibilities in the Congo basin region.  Hans SCHIPULLE had initially been invited to Kinshasa to chair a number of working sessions during the Conference on Alternative Management Models and Financing Mechanisms for Sustainable Use of Forests (June 23 to 24), organised by Chatham House with the financial support of the French Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the German Ministry for Cooperation and Development, the Belgian Director for Development Cooperation, the World Bank and the European Commission. He later took up the opportunity to organise further meetings for dialogue with representatives from partner governments, NGOs and privat sector associations in the region.

Enhancing dialogue and exchanging experience between new economic actors and established companies. Following the workshop for dialogue organised by IFIA in May 2008 in Libreville, China's ambassadors to Brazzaville and Kinshasa, Shuli LI and Zexian WU, expressed their willingness to intensify their commitment to promoting sustainable management of Central Africa's forests. As Chinese companies have only started to get active in the region quite recently they are still learning about regulatory frameworks and international cooperation schemes such as the FLEGT process, certification of forest concessions and state-approved management plans. The ambassadors underlined the fact that Chinese companies' business behaviour is to a much lesser extent state-controlled than what is commonly believed. The management boards are however well aware of the international market requirements and environmentally conscious consumers' demand for forest products issued through transparent supply chains. As a result, their companies are now striving to take on their role as responsible actors among the stakeholders in the region's forest sector.

Henri DJOMBO, Minister for Forest Economies and Environment of the Republic of Congo, met the Facilitator during the official launch of negotiations in view of a possible Voluntary FLEGT Partnership Agreement with the European Commission on June 24. He emphasized the need for concerted action within the region and the sector, and he welcomed once again the process initiated during the Libreville meeting.   

During a series of meetings and discussions with representatives from NGOs, private sector companies, the Congolese Industrial Timber Federation (Fédération industrielle du bois FIB) and IFIA, the latter being a member of CBFP, Hans Schipulle explained the German facilitation's interest in strengthening an open discussion between CBFP partners and the new actors in the region on the private sector's role. "We know that lagged reforms in the forestry sector, the presence of corruption, difficult access to credit markets and the absence of a level playing field are likely to cause frustrations among those involved. This is exactly why we want to encourage all those private sector associations who work towards legality, transparency and a change of behaviour among their members." 

Transparent supply-chain management and certified timber products may open up markets but they also require important investment schemes. Talking about legal verification of forest concessions, Jose ENUNDO BONONGE, the Minister for Environment, Nature Conservation and Tourism, is all in favour of a transparent and socially sustainable process. According to him, companies that are ready to legalise their concessions and who respect common principles of sustainable forest resource management, deserve to be assisted both by the State and by international partners. Following the estimations laid down by the representatives of the private sector, the costs for an industrial logging company making a real effort in respecting its legal obligations would sum up to 10 to 15% of its overall annual turnover. It would need to invest in setting up planning and management units endowed with all the expertise and computer software necessary to attain certification and legalisation of their concessions. The private sector also regrets the negative impact of the so-called "artisanal loggers" who are often bound to sell their products to powerful trading networks. The traders benefit from illegal timber export rather than supplying the national markets and thus counteract the very objective of small logging permits.       

During the Chatham House debates, participants commented quite diverse approaches to support sustainable forest management, stimulating controversial opinions about the role of industrial timber harvesting. However, unanimity was reached almost immediately when it came to the need for shared responsibility in the forestry sector, where political and private, indigenous and foreign, non-governmental and intergovernmental actors would each play their part. Regarding the donors's considerations to support the certification process in DRC, final decisions will be taken once the legal verification process will be completed. These considerations will, at any rate, be based on a clear distinction between the responsibilities of the private companies and those of the public administration. The representatives of the private sector welcomed this approach and offered their technical expertise for the upcoming technical advisory meetings aiming to define legal framework conditions that should guarantee clear and transparent transactions. In the same context, they were in favour of integrating "tropical timber" as another resource to be monitored within the EITI scheme. 

Good forest governance, the right to access natural resource markets and the participation of all stakeholders in the decision-making process concerning forest management are always linked to the good functioning of a state that provides an option for "voice" to its citizens, and that holds accountable the people's representatives. The facilitator recalled this broader context during an evening get-together with members of the National Assembly in Kinshasa. Parliamentarians should have the right and the duty to participate fully in the upcoming consultation procedure to define the legal framework of the forestry sector.  


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Find out more...
◊ Overview of Kinshasa meeting on the website of Chatham House and general project presentation on "Developing Innovative Management and Financing Models for the Forests of The Democratic Republic of Congo"
◊ Resource Extraction Monitoring offers independent monitoring on law enforcement and natural resources extraction. .
◊ Logging Off - online resource for information on Voluntary Partnership Agreements
◊ EITI - Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative
◊ Summary of proceedings and presentation of Workshop for Dialogue organised by IFIA on May 22, Libreville

CBFP and the country applying for the COMIFAC presidency prepare for the next Council of Ministers

During his last working visit to the Central African Republic in July 2008, CBFP's Facilitator delegate, Samuel MAKON, has "taken the pulse" of the country that is getting ready to welcome the 5th meeting of the COMIFAC Council of Ministers, scheduled for September 9 to 11, and to take over the COMIFAC presidency for the next two years. The minister in charge of forests and the environment, Yvonne MBOISSONA, conscious of the challenges to face when organising the Council, volunteered to make a tour to visit her colleagues in the region to ensure that the necessary quorum  of 7 ministers (out of 10) for the Council to be able to take decisions will be attained. During her visits, the responsible ministers of COMIFAC's member governments would thus have the opportunity to discuss face-to-face and in a confidential setting with the incoming President their opinions concerning all major agenda items on the Council's agenda.  

Mme MBOISSONA also explained that a local organisation committee - financed by the CAR Forest Ministry - has been set up in view of the logistic measures that will have to be mastered. Understanding the size of these exceptional expenses that cannot entirely be covered by the government's budget and the French cooperation's part already known, the Facilitator delegate confirmed once again the German facilitation's decision to support the Central African Republic's presidency by contributing to the preparation and organisation of the Council of Ministers.

Recent events and achievements

· Communication strategy of the German facilitation. The German facilitation has edited and published an info-flyer that aims at presenting CBFP objectives and achievements. We thus hope to be able to provide CBFP's members with a communication tool that will contribute to promoting our network. You are welcome to underline your committment to the partnership by distributing the flyer during your workshops and conferences in the region. The flyer is available for download on our website, but you may also order a printed version with the German facilitation. Talking about the website: we are currently improving our website's structure in order to guarantee better presentation and easy access to the dynamic elements on the one hand, and a clear distinction between thematic content and CBFP's organisational structure on the other hand. Please do not hesitate to send us your comments! 
 View the info folder on the CBFP website

• Declaration issued during the ministerial conference on the Greater Virunga, July 14-15 in Gisenyi, Rwanda.The 2-million-acre (800,000-hectare) Virunga, a UN World Heritage Site, is home to about half the world’s 700 remaining mountain gorillas. The Ministerial Statement is the result of an US American effort to revitalize the transboundary dialogue for conservation of the greater landscape. The conference ended with the signature of the Rubavu Declaration (Ministerial Statement). The three ministers confessed their will to strengthen the tourism sector, fight poverty and conserve the enormous biodiversity in the Greater Virunga Region. They also expressed their concern that armed groups might further displace local communities, destroy infrastructure and prevent park rangers from entering more than 40% of the Virunga Park. 
Find out more....

· Launching the Congo Basin Forest Fund (CBFF), June 16 and 17 in London: This highly attended event, chaired by UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, brought together a number of important persons from state services and development institutions, several of them delivering speeches that underlined their commitment to and appreciation of this new financial mechanism. A large number of CBFP members were among those who had decided to mark their presence and CBFP's facilitator welcomed the British partners' decision to pursue the implementation of the fund within the existing regional cooperation network. While the intergovernmental organ of COMIFAC will be represented in CBFF's Administrative Council, its Executive Secretary and CBFP's facilitator will participate as "ex officio" members, without voting rights.
Find out more

· COMIFAC side event during the 9th meeting of the Parties to the Unites Nations Convention on Biodiversity, May 28th 2008 in Bonn : Even though participants had to wait quite a while before being able to enter the conference room, this side event on joint efforts for conservation and sustainable management of the forest ecosystems in the COMIFAC regiont attracted a large audience and culminated in the signature of a Memorandum of Understanding between COMIFAC and the CBD secretariat.
Find out more…

...and upcoming agenda items

· Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (September 2 to 4, Accra, Ghana): Ever since its creation in 2002, CBFP has contributed to efficient aid management in the region and to implementing the Plan of Convergence by facilitating network exchange and collaboration among its members. This third forum on Aid Effectiveness will review the overall progress made so far in improving aid effectiveness through development programmes and projects. 
· COMIFAC Council of Ministers (September 9 to 11, Bangui, CAR): The Council of Ministers for forests or/and environmental matters from COMIFAC's members countries is responsible for deciding on, coordinating and controlling the implementation of national and international politics for sustainable management of the forests ecosystems in Central Africa. The upcoming meeting is the first one under Centralafrican presidency.

View the list of upcoming events on our website...

Readers' Corner

· Study on Establishing CBFF Governance Structure (UNEP). In the framework of the establishment of the Congo Basin Forest Fund, which will initially be based on the important contribution of £ 50 Million offered by the British government, the United Nations Programme for Environment (UNEP) has been commissioned to work on the establishment of a possible governance structure for this fund.
Read the report
· "Towards Sustainable Management and Financing of the Forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo" Chatham House- The Royal Institute of International Affairs has published a new research paper that considers the challenges that need to be addressed within the Democratic Republic of Congo's forest sector if innovative models for management and financing of the country's forests are to be successfully implemented.  Read the report.  
· "Climate Change and Forests, Emerging Policy and Market Opportunities"- edited by Charlotte Streck, Robert O'Suliivan, Toby Janson-Smith and Richard G. Tarasofsky. The book contains contributions from leading policy makers, technical experts and practioners and draws on the contributors' extensive practical experiences working in climate policy and the forest sector. The book is published by Brookings Institute Press and Chatham House.  Order online. 
· Press review- "Critical time for African Rainforests: as threats to the Congo Basin's vast forests grow, scientists race to sharpen assessments and stem destruction"- Robert Koenig. Science 13 June 2008 (vol 320). Not quite a partner, and thus even more flattering to see an article about CBFP's scientific cooperation efforts published in one of the world's leading journal on nature and science.  Read the article.
· "The Prize of Survival : What would it cost to save Nature?"- Philip Bethge, Rafaela von Bredow and Christian Schwägerl. SPIEGEL ONLINE. The influential German weekly DER SPIEGEL makes reference to CBFP on its international website's special "9th Conference of the Parties" edition and depicts the current revolution in conservation: the discovery of nature as a marketplace. The article has won the regional Reuters-IUCN Environmental Media Award as is shows "how pricetags are being put on corals, rainforests and rare plants for producing food CO's sinks and drugs." Read the article.

Information bulletin published by
German Facilitation of the Congo Basin Forest Partnership