KIGALI, Rwanda (PAMACC News) - The involvement of local communities in forest conservation actions at all levels is key to the success of conservation and sustainable use of wildlife resources in the Central African region, experts say.
According to African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), engaging local communities in natural resource management enhances conservation activities including the fight against poaching and wildlife trafficking.
“The local forest communities are key drivers to the fight against illegal and wildlife trafficking and thus the need to empower them in readiness to conservation challenges,” says Manfred Epanda, AWF Coordinator in Cameroon.
In a paper presented at a side event at the Congo Basin Forest Partnership meeting in Kigali November 22, 2016, Epanda emphasised on the need to adequately sensitise and educate the local population on the importance of conservation to their wellbeing.
“Studies by the AWF has shown the direct relationship between the level of education of the population and attitudes towards conservation,” he said.
According to the studies, the involvement of the local people in the conservation process will enhance conservation by some 11.40 percent, pointing out much resources including wildlife and money can be saved by improving the attitude and knowledge of local people towards conservation.
Experts agree there is a direct relationship between the natural resource potential of a region and the socio-economic wellbeing of the population who rely on these resources for cash and subsistence income.
“The local populations directly rely on their natural resources for survival, but the exploitation of these resources must be done sustainably,” says Richard Eba’a Atyi of CIFOR.
“We do not discourage hunting by the local population as a source of food. The law is against hunting in protected areas and hunting for commercial purposes. This is what the AWF and other partners are against,” says Jef Dupain, Regional Director West Africa, AWF.
Conservation experts also called for reinforcement of wildlife trafficking laws in the Congo Basin forest region to curb increasing illegal poaching activities, especially in protected areas.
Manfred Epanda cited the case of the Dja Faunal Reserve in Cameroon known to be ivory trafficking hotspots, necessitating the reinforcement of the wildlife law and continuous education and involvement of the local population in the protection process.
“ The co-management of protected areas with the local people permit for mastery of the local reality like culture, language, people and provide the opportunity for the population to identify with the project,” he said.
The Dja Faunal Reserve he explained is a UNESCO world heritage site that is facing significant challenges although numerous conservation initiatives are presently ongoing in and around the reserve.
Unfortunately, it attracts the attention of traffickers because it is one of the last remaining refuges for wild apes and many other endangered species in the region, Epanda explained.
Chimpanzees are totally protected wildlife species by the 1994 wildlife law, which stipulates that anyone found in possession of parts of a protected wildlife species, is considered to have killed the animal experts said. The aim is to protect animals like the chimpanzee that are facing serious threats from poaching.
In Cameroon for example according to statistic, some 32 chimpanzee skulls have been seized since the beginning of 2016 during operations carried out under the framework of the wildlife law enforcement initiative started by the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife (MINFOF) in 2003 to effectively enforce the laws.
MINFOF has since been working hard to ensure that those involved with the slaughter and sale of chimpanzee parts are prosecuted because their acts infringe the wildlife law, experts said.
KIGALI, Rwanda (PAMACC News) - The 16th Meeting of Parties of the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP) kicks off in Kigali, Rwanda on November 21, with over 500 delegates from governments, organisations – both the public and private sectors, representatives from civil society and the academic and scientific community looking forward to developing policies and other means of dealing with the challenges facing the Congo Basin forests.
Other issues to be discussed include land use planning, conservation and sustainable use of wildlife resources, including the fight against wildlife trafficking, climate change, sustainable economic development and private sector knowledge-based decision-making among others.
So far, Heads of State and Government of the Congo Basin countries have confirmed their commitment to the principles of conservation of the biodiversity and the sustainable management of Central African forest ecosystems, the fundamental rights of their populations to benefit from forest resources and the imperative to reconcile development needs with conservation within the framework of international cooperation.
The Kigali conference comes at a time when the Congo Basin forests are facing challenges of growing complexity and gravity.
However, the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) points out that in the recent past, there has been substantial progress in conservation activities within the basin. The organization works in four priority landscapes in the CBFP which include Maringa-Lopori-Wamba and Bili Uele landscapes in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Dja Fauna Reserve and Campo Ma’an Park in Cameroon.
The Congo Basin Forest covers approximately 180 million hectares and accounts for 30% of plant cover on the African continent, and 19% of the world’s tropical rainforests according to statistics from the African Forest Fotum.
The Basin accordingly hosts significant biodiversity and provides key habitat to some of Africa’s most unique and threatened wildlife, including the forest elephant, okapi, and four great ape species: bonobo, chimpanzee, eastern gorilla and western gorilla. It hosts approximately 10,000 plant, 1000 bird, 400 mammal, and 700 fish species, many of which are unique to the Basin.
Currently, CBFP comprises more than eighty African and international partner countries and organisations from both the public and private sectors as well as from civil society and the academic and scientific community. It is the most comprehensive regional platform dealing with the challenges facing the Congo Basin forests.
Cooperation within CBFP accordingly, aims to support the shared vision of the Central African Heads of State, notably, improving measures taken, including technical and financial support measures, to promote the conservation of biodiversity and the sustainable management of forest ecosystems, to combat climate change and to alleviate poverty in Central African countries in line with the COMIFAC Convergence Plan.
KIGALI, Rwanda (PAMACC News) - The 16th Meeting of Parties of the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP) kicks off in Kigali, Rwanda on November 21, with over 500 delegates from governments, organisations – both the public and private sectors, representatives from civil society and the academic and scientific community looking forward to developing policies and other means of dealing with the challenges facing the Congo Basin forests.
Other issues to be discussed include land use planning, conservation and sustainable use of wildlife resources, including the fight against wildlife trafficking, climate change, sustainable economic development and private sector knowledge-based decision-making among others.
So far, Heads of State and Government of the Congo Basin countries have confirmed their commitment to the principles of conservation of the biodiversity and the sustainable management of Central African forest ecosystems, the fundamental rights of their populations to benefit from forest resources and the imperative to reconcile development needs with conservation within the framework of international cooperation.
The Kigali conference comes at a time when the Congo Basin forests are facing challenges of growing complexity and gravity.
However, the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) points out that in the recent past, there has been substantial progress in conservation activities within the basin. The organization works in four priority landscapes in the CBFP which include Maringa-Lopori-Wamba and Bili Uele landscapes in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Dja Fauna Reserve and Campo Ma’an Park in Cameroon.
The Congo Basin Forest covers approximately 180 million hectares and accounts for 30% of plant cover on the African continent, and 19% of the world’s tropical rainforests according to statistics from the African Forest Fotum.
The Basin accordingly hosts significant biodiversity and provides key habitat to some of Africa’s most unique and threatened wildlife, including the forest elephant, okapi, and four great ape species: bonobo, chimpanzee, eastern gorilla and western gorilla. It hosts approximately 10,000 plant, 1000 bird, 400 mammal, and 700 fish species, many of which are unique to the Basin.
Currently, CBFP comprises more than eighty African and international partner countries and organisations from both the public and private sectors as well as from civil society and the academic and scientific community. It is the most comprehensive regional platform dealing with the challenges facing the Congo Basin forests.
Cooperation within CBFP accordingly, aims to support the shared vision of the Central African Heads of State, notably, improving measures taken, including technical and financial support measures, to promote the conservation of biodiversity and the sustainable management of forest ecosystems, to combat climate change and to alleviate poverty in Central African countries in line with the COMIFAC Convergence Plan.
BY HEADS OF STATES at COP22
We, Heads of State, Government, and Delegations, gathered in Marrakech, on African soil, for the High-Level Segment of the 22nd Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the 12th Session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol, and the 1st Session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement, at the gracious invitation of His Majesty the King of Morocco, Mohammed VI, issue this proclamation to signal a shift towards a new era of implementation and action on climate and sustainable development.
Our climate is warming at an alarming and unprecedented rate and we have an urgent duty to respond.
We welcome the Paris Agreement, adopted under the Convention, its rapid entry into force, with its ambitious goals, its inclusive nature and its reflection of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, in the light of different national circumstances, and we affirm our commitment to its full implementation.
Indeed, this year, we have seen extraordinary momentum on climate change worldwide, and in many multilateral fora. This momentum is irreversible – it is being driven not only by governments, but by science, business and global action of all types at all levels.
Our task now is to rapidly build on that momentum, together, moving forward purposefully to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to foster adaptation efforts, thereby benefiting and supporting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals.
We call for the highest political commitment to combat climate change, as a matter of urgent priority.
We call for strong solidarity with those countries most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, and underscore the need to support efforts aimed to enhance their adaptive capacity, strengthen resilience and reduce vulnerability.
We call for all Parties to strengthen and support efforts to eradicate poverty, ensure food security and to take stringent action to deal with climate change challenges in agriculture.
We call for urgently raising ambition and strengthening cooperation amongst ourselves to close the gap between current emissions trajectories and the pathway needed to meet the long-term temperature goals of the Paris Agreement.
We call for an increase in the volume, flow and access to finance for climate projects, alongside improved capacity and technology, including from developed to developing countries.
We the Developed Country Parties reaffirm our USD $100 billion mobilization goal.
We, unanimously, call for further climate action and support, well in advance of 2020, taking into account the specific needs and special circumstances of developing countries, the least developed countries and those particularly vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change.
We who are Parties to the Kyoto Protocol encourage the ratification of the Doha Amendment.
We, collectively, call on all non-state actors to join us for immediate and ambitious action and mobilization, building on their important achievements, noting the many initiatives and the Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action itself, launched in Marrakech.
The transition in our economies required to meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement provides a substantial positive opportunity for increased prosperity and sustainable development.
The Marrakech Conference marks an important inflection point in our commitment to bring together the whole international community to tackle one of the greatest challenges of our time.
As we now turn towards implementation and action, we reiterate our resolve to inspire solidarity, hope and opportunity for current and future generations.
