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Report of the last CBFP Scientific College Meeting: The Partnership´s scientific community gathers around the German Facilitator Christian Ruck
The virtual meeting of the CBFP Scientific College was held online on June 26, 2021 from 2:00 to 3:00 pm. Please download here below the minutes of the meeting:
Participants: Richard Eba´a Atyi (Co-Leader of College), Donald Iponga (Co-Leader of College), Christian Ruck (CBFP Facilitator), Dany Pokem, Claus-Michael Falkenberg, Robert Nasi, Guillaume Lescuyer, Benoit Mertens, Denis Depommier, Pierre Defourny, Sandrine Andong, Denis Sonwa, Virginia Zaunbrecher, Claude Kachaka, Marius Ekue, Aurelian Mbzibain, Vivian Rossi, Xiao Jianmin, Johannes Haas
Agenda
Introductory remarks (by College Co-Leaders)
Introductory remarks (by CBFP Facilitator Dr. Christian Ruck)
State of play on the CBFP declaration process (by experts Claus Falkenberg/Jean Marie Noiraud)
Any other business (by College Co-Leaders and members)
Other college activities in 2021, e.g. State of the Forests of the Congo Basin Report
Closing remarks (by College Co-Leaders)
After the Co-Leader Richary Atyi welcomed all participants and introduced them to the agenda of the meeting, the floor was given to CBFP Facilitator Dr. Christian Ruck representing the German Facilitation to the partnership. The Facilitator gave a short overview of the activities the Facilitation has pursued since the last virtual meeting of the College. He stressed that the work on the Declaration supported by all members of the CBFP has continued since its official adoption at the CBFP Council Meeting in Kinshasa in December 2020. He also noted that the Facilitation is preparing for upcoming key conferences in multilateral environmental politics, such as the Conferences of Parties of UNFCCC on climate and of CBD on biodiversity. In this regard, the Facilitation is commissioning several thematic short-term studies on pertinent issues of forest and environmental politics, such as on REDD+ in the Congo Basin, on ecotourism, on sustainable value chains and on transhumance. Furthermore, he asked the Scientific College to help prepare the Facilitation and the Regional College of our Partnership for these upcoming conferences and preparatory negotiations. In particular, a numerical estimation of the Congo Basin´s “value” to safeguarding the global climate is needed to politically lobby for a more appropriate share of climate funding to be directed towards the Congo Basin rainforests. Thanks to the outstanding importance of the Congo Basin rainforest ecosystems for carbon sequestration and for other global and local ecosystem services, their crucial role for global climate mitigation and adaptation should be reflected more adequately also in financial terms. Reacting to a question from Pierre Defourny, Facilitator Dr. Ruck clarified that scientific evidence is needed to underscore political lobbying for the Congo Basin and make it more effective. Currently, the Facilitation is using the figure of 5% as demand for an appropriate share of all climate funding to be directed towards the Congo Basin rainforests. Additional input or other estimations are more than welcome.
Thereafter, Claus Michael Falkenberg introduced the College to ongoing work on the Declaration after it had been officially adopted by the CBFP Council in Kinshasa in December 2020. He clarified that the text has remained the same in principle and only minor adjustments have been made reacting to demands from the regional college, for example a formulation towards “zero deforestation” as objective instead of “no deforestation”. He also noted that – as had been agreed in Kinshasa – the Declaration has been sent to all COMIFAC Ministers in order for a cross-sectoral revision of the document with different concerned Ministries in the COMIFAC countries. Claus Falkenberg also explained that the Declaration is planned to be signed by the COMIFAC Ministers to give it more political weight and that it is envisaged to integrate key points of the Declaration into the NDCs of all COMIFAC states which are being revised currently. Having said that, it was stressed that the Declaration gains political weight through its elaboration in a participatory consultative process including all CBFP Colleges prior to the last Council Meeting. This demonstrates that the Declaration is more than an additional declaration by states, but that it was instead elaborated and is supported by all stakeholder groups represented in CBFP Colleges. It is thus a “joint perspective of the Congo Basin” and can be used as basic documents for negotiations on additional funding and international support to the region in exchange for commitments and actions on forest conservation and sustainable use.
On the following agenda point, Prof. Damase Khasa introduced the College to the status quo of a CAFI-funded and FAO-executed regional study on drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in the Congo Basin. Prof. Khasa is representing the CBFP Scientific College in the technical committee of this study. The presentation is attached. It was discussed how the mentioned study is overlapping with comparable regional studies, e.g. a recent study by OFAC and Vancutsem et al. (2021). The discussion in the College clarified that there are some overlaps but that when FAO and CAFI designed the current study project, the recent papers had not been published yet. Furthermore, different perspectives on the same question van be very helpful. Also, one focus of the project is to specifically use open-access sources such as SEPAL, to improve the methodology of deforestation monitoring and to make this methodology available to partner countries so they can reproduce studies and ideally create a feeling of ownership. Results will be shared in early 2022 in the form of a white paper as well as by means of several peer reviewed articles.
Co-Leader Richard Atyi then informed the College that the regional “State of the Forests of the Congo Basin” study is being finalized and that it is planned to publish the report by the end of 2021. He underlined that this regular effort is carried mainly by voluntary contributions of numerous scientists working on Congo Basin forest issues.
Concerning any other business, the University of Louvain will be hosting a large conference on land use issues in 2022 while the Global Landscapes Forum on drylands in Africa will take place online already beginning of June 2021.
In the closing remarks by the Facilitator Dr. Ruck and Co-Leader Richard Atyi, the College was also informed that the German Facilitation to the CBFP has been extended until the end of the year 2022. The Facilitator thanked the College for all provided support and encouraged the group to jointly keep pursuing the fight for conservation and sustainable use of the Congo Basin´s rainforests.
Korup United, the Voluntary Association of ex-personnel of the Korup Project (1998-2003), is organizing a two-day Symposium October 31 - November 01, 2024, on Conservation and Sustainable Development in the Lower Guinea Congolian Forest Ecosystem. This event also commemorates the 38th Anniversary of the creation of the Korup National Park in October 1986 by Presidential Decree as the first rainforest IUCN Category II National Park in Cameroon.
Mrs Salina GRENET-CATALANO was appointed on July 5, 2024, by decrees of the Prime Minister and the Minister in charge of Europe and Foreign Affairs, the Director of Global Affairs of the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs. It is in this light that she takes over Mr Christophe GUILHOU and becomes French’s new Co-facilitator for the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP).
PANGEA investigates variation between and within Earth’s two largest tropical forests in the Americas and Central Africa while integrating datasets and research from existing and complementary activities across the tropics. PANGEA’s research questions focus on five thematic areas, Biogeochemical Cycles; Biodiversity; Climate Interactions and Feedbacks; Social-Ecological Systems; and Disturbance Dynamics.
The Science Panel for the Congo Basin (SPCB) was launched on 3rd December 2023, at COP28 in Dubai. The SPCB is an independent platform for scientists from the region to synthesize the existing knowledge including Indigenous peoples and autochthonous knowledge, on the functioning of, and threats to, the Congo Basin and its ecosystems.
The DYNAFAC collective was created to develop common skills and technical and scientific complementarities. Its goal: to develop activities that will ultimately improve development plans and ensure better management of production forests in Central Africa.
The Congo Basin Science Initiative (CBSI) is an independent scientist-led platform that promotes long-term investment in science in the Congo Basin with a mission to transform our understanding of the world’s second largest extent of tropical forest, build scientific capacity in the region, and use this knowledge to support sustainable development.
In his book, "How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need,” Bill Gates singled out CGIAR centers, which have been at the forefront of supporting the world to feed itself through research including developing improved higher-yielding varieties of important staples such as maize and rice, as doing work that is “indispensable in creating new climate-smart crops and livestock for the world’s poor farmers.”
The PANGEA Scoping Campaign had a strong presence at the 20th Meeting of the Parties of the Congo Basin Forest Partnership from May 31 – June 5, 2024 in Kinshasa, DRC. The conference exchanges between civil servants, scientists, and philanthropic organizations in the Congo Basin provided a special opportunity to address the need for strengthening collaborative partnerships in the region and pan-tropically.
The CBFP and the coordination of the Western Bloc are pleased to invite you to a face-to-face exchange session, to be held on Friday 4 October from 8:00 to 10:00 at the Hôtel de l'Amitié, in N'Djamena, on the occasion of the conference on pastoralism and protected areas. The event will provide an opportunity to reflect on how the CBFP can continue to lead discussions on the most topical issues in the sub-region.
The Conference aims at: Presenting the state of knowledge on the causes and consequences of tensions between agropastoral activities and protected areas within the Sahelian and Sudano-Guinean ecosystems; Reviewing the modes of governance and technical innovations making it possible to better manage the interface zones between agropastoral areas and protected areas, in order to promote the sustainable development of agropastoral territories...
After a series of broken silence procedures in the lead-up to the Summit, the Summit of the Future (SOF) opened under a cloud of uncertainty when the Russian Federation made a last-minute proposal for an amendment to the outcome document. However, following a quick voting round, delegates adopted the Summit’s negotiated outcome, the Pact for the Future, and its two annexes: the Global Digital Compact and the Declaration of Future Generations. The rest of the day then proceeded largely as planned, with general statements by high-level representatives taking place in parallel with two interactive dialogues on the Summit’s themes.
The Summit of the Future opened with some drama when the Russian Federation tabled its objection to several paragraphs in the outcome documents: the Pact for the Future, the Global Digital Compact, and Declaration on Future Generations. In the end, after months of negotiations, the Pact was adopted. UN General Assembly (UNGA) President Philémon Yang thanked the Co-Facilitators for steering a complex negotiating process and described the just-adopted Pact as a reflection of “our pledge” to lay the foundation for a sustainable, inclusive, and peaceful global order.
The Central African Biodiversity Working Group adopts common views for COP-16 at the CBD and related meetings at the end of their 38 meeting held from September 9 to 13, 2024 in Brazzaville. The Central African Biodiversity Working Group held its thirty-eighth meeting (GTBAC-38) from September 9 to 13, 2024 in Brazzaville, the Republic of Congo. These meetings organised by the Executive Secretariat of the Central African Forests Commission (COMIFAC) with technical and financial support from the GIZ Regional Support Project to COMIFAC, brought together members of the GTBAC.
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On 10 September 2024, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) closed its 78th session. Addressing the Assembly for the last time as its President, Dennis Francis (Trinidad and Tobago) underscored the important role of the multilateral system in overcoming complex challenges. Philemon Yang (Cameroon), President-elect of the 79th session of the UNGA, subsequently took an oath of office, pledging to perform his duties “in all loyalty, discretion and conscience.” This was followed by the opening of the Assembly’s 79th session.
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A search was carried out using Google Scholar and Scopus (for the period 2000-2023) and official reports (from the inscription of the site until 2024) submitted by countries on the state of conservation of natural UNESCO World Heritage sites in Africa. The scientific literature does not sufficiently address the determinants of armed conflicts affecting African Natural World Heritage sites or the connections between the quality of governance of Protected Areas and the emergence and/ or resolution of armed conflicts. Understanding the origins and foundations of these armed conflicts requires an in-depth analysis of several determinants linked to the existence of these protected areas and an assessment of the effectiveness of the governance systems, which is rarely available.
Abidjan, 3–6 September 2024 : Leveraging financing and partnerships for combating drought, land degradation and desertification in Africa The note available to dowload explores the critical role of financing and partnerships in addressing the interrelated challenges of drought, land degradation, and desertification in Africa.
Bonn / Laramie, 4 September 2024 - Today, a groundbreaking online map was launched showing the migration paths of land animals around the world. An international team of over 80 scientists has collaborated to create the first-ever interactive migration map of hooved mammals such as antelopes, guanacos and zebras, that routinely travel large distances at different times in the year. Such animals are collectively called “ungulates".
The African Forest Forum (AFF) in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)’s Regional office for Africa, is organizing a three-week Community of Practice (CoP) on “Climate Change in African Forestry and Wildlife Sectors”. The CoP will be held from9 - 27 September 2024, from 12:00 noon - 3.00 pm Nairobi time/ 9:00 am -12.00 noon GMT., via Howspace – a virtual ‘African Forestry Community’ platform – for knowledge sharing and learning.
To prepare the next post-Malabo plan, the ECCAS Regional Economic Community (REC), in partnership with AU, and the Feed the Future Policy LINK Program organized regional stakeholder consultations for the Central Africa region. The participants at the consultation were: the CAADP focal points and government representatives of different countries, as well as private sector and non-state actor representatives from the seven ECCAS Member States. Please download the report...
The tenth special session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) regional consultations will be held in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, from 30 August to 6 September 2024, under the theme “Raising Africa’s Ambition to Reduce Land Degradation, Desertification, and Drought.” The theme underscores the critical need to address the current state of land degradation in the region and restore this vital resource.
Rome – A new roadmap guiding the work of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on forests was endorsed on Wednesday by members at the 27th Session of the Committee on Forestry (COFO 27) in Rome. The FAO Forestry Roadmap - From Vision to Action 2024-2031 sets out how FAO will work to enhance the role forests play in meeting forestry-related goals and targets and in addressing global challenges in coming years.
In recent years, the international community and countries in central Africa have developed various initiatives and programmes to halt biodiversity and natural resource degradation, and to address challenges to sustainable development in forest ecosystems.
At the 26th IUFRO World Congress in Stockholm from 23-29 June 2024, the booth hosted by the Scientific and Academic College of the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP) provided an opportunity for Crispin Ilunga-Mulala Mushagalusa, a PhD student at the University of Liège (Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech), to present his research as part of the UFA - Reforest project (Reforestation in the Forest Management Units of Cameroon).
This study addresses the need to explore the attitude and perception of local residents toward wildlife and conservation. Questionnaires, surveys and field observations were used in data collection. A total of 400 people was conveniently selected in 16 villages from October to December 2015. Data analysis relied mainly on factor analysis and structural equation modelling in SPSS 21 and Smart-PLS software.
The objective of this side event on 4 June 2024 was move away from rapid conflict mitigation and prevention towards to holistic and integrated coexistence programs between human and forest elephants in rainforest of the Congo Basin.
The theme for International Youth Day 2024 (12 August) is “From Clicks to Progress: Youth Digital Pathways for Sustainable Development.” This theme highlights the key connection between digitalization and accelerating the progress of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), emphasizing the crucial contributions of young people in this transformative process.
On 23 December 1994, the United Nations General Assembly decided, in its resolution 49/214, that the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People shall be observed on 9 August every year. The date marks the first meeting, in 1982, of the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations. The International Day observance will take place online on Friday, 9 August 2024. This year’s theme is: Protecting the rights of Indigenous Peoples in Voluntary Isolation and Initial Contact.
CBFP, which is one of the oldest Type 2 partnerships in the United Nations system, registered in the ECOSOC and UN DESA partnerships, and strengthened in SDG 17, is calling on its partners to make the conclusions of the High-Level Political Forum for Sustainable Development their own... the call is crystallised in advocacy for Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership with diverse stakeholders for sustainable developmen. In Fact, Partnerships are the glue for SDG implementation and is been essential to making the Agenda a reality.
This hybrid event aims to set the stage for the 2025 IYC, which will be officially launched during the ICA Global Cooperative Conference, scheduled for November 25-29, 2024, in New Delhi, India. The New York event will serve as a platform to deepen the theme of IYC2025, unveil the media package, discuss the UN resolutions outlining the modalities for the IYC launch.
Side event organized by the Sustainable Wildlife Management Programme on the 04/06 from 8h30 to 9h30 am. United Nations member states are committed to reducing hunger, improving health, and conserving natural resources through the Sustainable Development Goals. Additionally, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework aims to conserve 30% of terrestrial and marine areas by 2030, promoting sustainable wildlife management and equitable benefits. However, in Central Africa, the unsustainable wild meat trade threatens food security and biodiversity, making these goals challenging to achieve.
The Sustainable Wildlife Management (SWM) Programme presented its innovative Legal Hub at the recent 20th Meeting of Parties (MoP20) of the Congo Basin Forest Partnership. This event was held in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), from 3 to 5 June, 2024. A specific side-event titled "A Tool to Connect Different Sources of Law" showcased the Legal Hub’s critical role in enhancing the legal frameworks governing wildlife management across multiple countries, including the sub-region.
In this 20th meeting, the consortium comprising the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), RIKOLTO, and the Catholic University of Bukavu (UCB) actively participated in the sessions held from June 3 to 5, 2024, at the Pullman Hotel in Kinshasa. During a panel focused on agroforestry and agribusiness, the consortium presented solutions for sustainable and effective land management around the Itombwe Reserve and the Kahuzi-Biega National Park through two main themes...
