Germany Signs Agreement With 10 Central African Countries On Management Of Ecosystem

The German Embassy in Cameroon and the Central African Forestry Commission, popularly known by its French acronym, COMIFAC, on Monday signed an accord for the durable management of the forestry ecosystems in the Central African sub-region.

The main objectives of the accord are to develop equitable and transparent relations that would satisfy the wishes of the COFIMAC heads of state, bring together the imperatives of economic and social development with the conservation of the biological diversity and the durable management of the forestry ecosystems in the 10 countries of the sub-region.

The countries of the Central African Forestry Commission are Cameroon, Burundi, Congo Brazzaville, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe and Chad.

The event was chaired by Cameroon’s Minister of Forestry and Wildlife, Jules Doret Ndongo, who is also the current president of COFIMAC and the German government was represented by Gabriela Bennemann, Chargee d’Affaires at the German Embassy in Cameroon while COFIMAC was represented by its Executive Secretary, Raymond Ndomba Ngoye.

The accord is the second signed between the German government and an inter-governmental organization after that with the African Union.

According to the terms of the accord, “Finances would be directly put at the disposal of COMIFAC for the establishment of convergent plans and the operational declination of our convergent plan adopted by the African heads of state during their second summit on conservation and durable management,” said COMIFAC Executive Secretary Ngoye.

Beside the financial aspects, there would be technical assistance which would consist of taking charge of the experts of the COMIFAC.

According to Bennenman, “our cooperation with COMIFAC is based on several points. There is the health sector, rural development and the protection of the environment, and COMIFAC is our partner in this action.”

Main aspects of this accord include the fight against poaching, forestry certification, forestry and environmental governance, forestry and environmental training and the respect of the rights of the local populations.

Germany is the principal financial partner of COMIFAC and the two parties have been cooperating since 2003, which cooperation has today attained maturity marked by several successes to the benefit of the durable conservation of the Congo Basin forests.

The German Development Agency – Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeilt GmbH – or GIZ (German Development Agency) and Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau (KFW) or German State-owned Bank are German institutions that have been supporting COMIFAC in the implementation of its development objectives.