The 6th meeting of CBFP regional advisory committee has been convened in Brazzaville
According to CBFP's Facilitator Hans Schipulle, "the regular frequency of our encounters is in itself a "tangible sign of our partnership's vitality in a on-moving Congo Basin region". Part of the meeting's working topics can thus considered as an extension to the Bangui CCR that centred on information, communication and continous exchange in order to attain a common level of understanding for all participants.
Participants to the Brazzaville CCR are convinced that the sustainable management and optimal use of forest resources is meant to play a crucial role in Central Africa's development. As a result, an active debate generated new ideas on various aspects that will determine the future on forestry in the Congo Basin: the role of industrial forestry, timber certification, monitoring systems and the promotion of legal timber trade controlled via bilateral voluntary partnership agreements between the Central African countries and the European Commission.
During the afternoon of the first day, Wangari Maathai, Honorable Ambassador for the Forest Ecosystems of the Congo Basin, contributed to the session dedicated to an update of finance initiatives. Her keynote address provided a very personal overview of the Congo Basin Forests Fund (CBFF) implementation progress. Her urgent call for a further development of autonomous finance mechanisms for COMIFAC and its institutional partners has been taken up by the office-holding President of the COMFAC, Madame Yvonne Mboissona (CAR). Ms Mboissona declares that on taking up the presidency of the COMIFAC, she urges all its member countries to step further with the actions needed to attain the fixed objective of environmental transparency.
The entire documentation of presentations, keynote addresses and the list of participants is already available in our section for conference proceedings. The meeting's minutes will be published shortly.
Picture: Participants of the 6th meeting of CBFP's regional advisory committee on October 31. In the middle Henri Djombo, Minister of Forestry to the Republic of Congo, and Yvonne Mboissona, office-holding President of the COMIFAC
