A New future for Central Africa's Forests
WWF International
December 4, 2000
Press Release
Yaoundé, Cameroon - WWF, the conservation organisation, today announced that a groundbreaking agreement on the management of a tri-national park between Cameroon, the Republic of Congo, and the Central African Republic is expected to be one of the highlights of a Central African forest and environment ministers meeting this week in Yaoundé.
The ministerial meeting on December 4-7, will be attended by representatives from the governments of Cameroon, Chad, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and the Central African Republic. Partly funded by the Alliance between WWF and the World Bank the ministerial meeting will define ways to implement the 12 point Declaration, signed in March 1999, on the future of the rainforests in the Congo Basin.
The Yaoundé Declaration, a historic end result to the six nation Yaoundé Forest Summit, committed the signatories to measures that would protect the highly important rainforests of the Congo Basin - second only in size to the forests of the Amazon and unique in terms of its diverse eco-sytems and wildlife.
"The Yaoundé Summit, while significant, was only the first step in protecting these forests. What we would like to see happen over the next few days is the emergence of a conservation vision for the whole of the region," says Wale Adeleke, WWF's Africa and Madagascar Forest Programme Coordinator. "The accord on the tri-national Sangha Park is greatly welcomed by WWF as it is the culmination of four years work on our part. But it's also an example of a regional conservation policy that we are encouraging. We now hope to see a large area of the Congo Basin more effectively managed."
The agreement on the tri-national Sangha Park will cover an area of more than one million hectares, comprising the protected zones of Lobeke national park in Cameroon, the Dzanga-Sangha in the Central African Republic, the Nouabale-Ndoki park in the Republic of Congo and the production forests and hunting zones that surround each of those parks. The three countries are expected to harmonise their forestry laws and put into place a common management system on anti-poaching measures, ecological monitoring and logging.
The seven countries participating in the ministerial meeting, are each expected to announce a national action plan on the implementation of the Yaoundé Declaration which will include the reformation of the forestry industry to allow sustainable logging and the creation of monitoring mechanisms and forest trust funds.
"The future of any plans drawn up at this meeting will be greatly dependent on financial sustainability and this can only happen through the establishment of better management systems of forest areas," says Leonard Usongo, WWF's advisor for Lobeke national park. "Donors too have a vital role to play in this."
ENDS
For more information please contact:
Tori Lyall, Senior Communications Officer, WWF's Forests for Life Campaign
+44 (0)1483 419 266, +44 (0) 1483 427 965
In Cameroon: John Nchami, Press Officer, WWF Cameroon:
Mobile: + 237 71 03 10
Notes to the Editors
1. For more information on the follow-up to the Yaounde Summit visit WWF's web site at: www.panda.org/forestsummit
2. For more information on the Alliance between WWF and the World Bank please visit: www-esd.worldbank.org/wwf