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.