Speech by the CBFP Facilitator of the Federal Republic of Germany, Honorable Dr. Christian Ruck at the opening of the Extraordinary Session of the Council of Ministers of COMIFAC

August 20, 2020 - At the invitation of His Excellency Mr. Jules Doret NDONGO, Minister of Forestry and Wildlife of Cameroon, current President of the Central African Forest Commission (COMIFAC), the CBFP Facilitator of the Federal Republic of Germany, Honorable Dr. Christian Ruck, on behalf of all CBFP member partners, delivered a speech during the protocol segment of the extraordinary meeting of the Council of Ministers in charge of Forests and/or Environment of the COMIFAC member countries. Please download the Summary Speech of the CBFP Facilitator of the Federal Republic of Germany, Honourable Dr. Christian Ruck

The solemn opening ceremony of the Extraordinary Session of the Council of Ministers in charge of Forests and/or Environment of COMIFAC member countries was presided over by Mr. Jules Doret NDONGO, in the presence of Mr. HELE Pierre, Minister of Environment, Nature Protection and Sustainable Development of Cameroon. This meeting was marked by three speeches:

- The speech by the Honourable Dr. Christian RUCK, Facilitator of the Federal Republic of Germany of the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP).

- The speech by Mrs. Chantal MFOULA, Deputy Secretary General of ECCAS.

- The opening speech by the current President of COMIFAC.

 

The following were present:

  • The Ministers in charge of Forestry and/or the Environment of the following countries: Cameroon, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Sao Tome and Principe and Gabon.

 

  • The representatives of the Member Countries: Burundi, Central African Republic, Rwanda and Angola. The latter having participated as an Observer.

 

  • The representatives of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), COMIFAC.

 

In his speech during this appropriate occasion, the Honourable Dr. Christian Ruck, CBFP Facilitator of the Federal Republic of Germany, introduced himself to all COMIFAC Ministers and ECCAS Commissioners and declared:

"I am both pleased and honoured to be able to take on this role and to continue the initiatives and work undertaken by previous CBFP Facilitators."

The CBFP Facilitator briefed the Ministers on the status of implementation of the CBFP Facilitation Roadmap. In this regard, Dr. Christian Ruck enlightened on this subject: "Circulated following the authorisation of the current Chairman of COMIFAC, the roadmap of the German CBFP Facilitation for the next two years. This roadmap is aligned with the Convergence Plan of COMIFAC and the objectives of sustainable development; it is articulated around the strategic axes for which, he gave some information on the activities carried out concerning in particular: Implementation of the N'Djamena Declaration and the fight against poaching; Intensification of the dialogue with China; Consolidation of the governance of the CBFP and Facilitation of a common position of the Congo Basin countries that would serve with the contribution of all CBFP colleges to the preparation of a common declaration, this, in a context that is urgent in view of the major international challenges, namely the two United Nations Conferences on Biodiversity and Climate, the World Congresses on Biodiversity and Forests on the one hand and the EU-Africa and EU-China Summits, the G7 and the G22 on the other hand. »

 

Raising the case for a common position, Dr. Christian Ruck highlighted some concerns about the deteriorating climate and disasters in the Amazon, before urging the Ministers in the following terms: "the eyes of the global public are directed towards the Congo Basin, the second lung of the world. Building on this momentum, "A common voice of the Congo Basin countries, in the form of a Declaration, should help the international community better appreciate the efforts made by the Central African countries in conserving forest resources which have a very important role as a climate stabilizer and thus enable them to obtain a corresponding share of international climate and biodiversity financing ; in return, the Congo Basin should offer effective protection/conservation and sustainable use of forests, e.g. through the certification of timber exploitation, restoration of degraded landscapes, sustainable exploitation of mineral resources, development of ecotourism etc. »

Honorable Dr. Christian Ruck, CBFP Facilitator of the Federal Republic of Germany

 

Image: COMIFAC

 

Please, download the Document here below:

The Summary Speech of the CBFP Facilitator of the Federal Republic of Germany, Honourable Dr. Christian Ruck

 

 

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