YAOUNDE, Cameroon (PAMACC News) - Illegal logging and poaching has fuelled the rapid disappearance of commercially viable forest resources and threatened indigenous livelihoods in the Congo Basin Forest region in Africa. However, development stakeholders in the continent are coming together to reinforce forest governance through capacity building of actors in the sector. “The key to forest protection is governance. Strengthening the capacity of government officials, private entities and civil society orgainasations in forest law enforcement in this sub region will enable the sustainable management of such resources,” said Mfou'ou Mou'ou Bruno, Director of Forest, Ministry of forestry and wildlife in Cameroon, at the opening of a training workshop in Yaounde on November 13-16,2017. The workshop on forest law enforcement, governance and fair trade for west and central African sub-regions was jointly organised by the African Forest Forum, the African Development Bank and the Cameroon Ministry of forestry and Wildlife. Cameroon's Forestry and Wildlife officials say, the Congo Basin occupies much of the middle of the African continent, straddling the equator from Gabon to Uganda, Cameroon to Angola. At 200 million hectares, the Congo Basin rain-forest is second only to the Amazon in size, and provides habitat for endangered animals found nowhere else such as bonobos, gorillas, and okapi. Protecting these important resources is therefore imperative, according to experts. "The increased trade in forest products is an indicator that African forests play an important role in national and global economies. However, despite the political will and the laudable efforts of national, regional and international institutions, the exploitation and illegal trade of forest products continues to rise to alarming proportions in many African countries and especially the Congo Basin Forest region," Bruno said. Africa Forest Forum (AFF) also called for a rapid solution pathways in forest protection in line with UN startegic plan. A report by the forum points out that the United Nations General Assembly has this year adopted a forest strategic plan for 2017-2030 as well as the Quadrennial Programme Actvities 2017-2020. The Yaounde capacity building workshop was therefore in readiness for the implementation of the different action plans to ensure better forest governance. "Good forest governance is a crucial component of environmental sustainability that ensures benefits derived from forest including ecosystem goods and services contribute to national economies and livelihoods," says Mahamane Larwanou, senior programme officer - AFF. The forest governance capacity programme is in line with AFF project called, “Strengthening Sustainable Forest Management in Africa”.The project accordingly seeks to generate and share knowledge and information through partnerships in ways that will provide inputs into policy options and capacity building efforts to improve forest management in a manner that better addresses poverty eradication and environmental protection in Africa. One of the key project objectives is to facilitate and harmonize evidence-based policies, regulation and governance mechanisms to strengthen public and private institutions to effectively support sustainable forest management and transparent trade. The ultimate ambition of the programme is therefore is to prepare a future in which stakeholders in the African…

BONN Germany (PAMACC News) Non-state actors following negotiations at the Bonn climate talks also known as COP 23 have deplored the resort to empty words on climate change by global leaders during the high-level segment of the two-week conference. Fijian Prime Minister and COP 23 President Frank Bainimarama at the high-level segment called on the country representatives to remain focused to ensure a successful outcome to the conference. “Future generations are counting on us. Let us act now”, he said. Sequel to Bainimarama’s speech, a young boy from Fiji recounted the story of how his home was destroyed in a recent natural disaster, asking government representatives in the room “What can you do?” to protect the climate. “Climate change is here to stay, unless you do something about it”, he told the delegates. Germany’s President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said that recent extreme weather events have shown that time was pressing. “I have no doubt that this urgency warns us to make haste and act decisively”, he said. The “historic climate agreement” reached in Paris in 2015 and “the path we have taken since” must remain irreversible. “Paris can only be called a breakthrough if we follow up on the agreement with actions”, said Steinmeier. Hopes for a strong statement on Germany’s climate goals and the future role of coal were dashed as Chancellor Angela Merkel disappointed only called on the world to walk the talk on climate at the global conference in Bonn. “This conference must send out the serious signal that the Paris Agreement was a starting point, but the work has only begun.” Today’s pledges in the nationally-determined contributions were not enough to keep global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius, she said. “Now it’s about walking the talk.” Speaking after the chancellor, French President Emmanuel Macron, said that the summit should send the message that “we can all come together” to mobilise the necessary public and private funds to act on climate. To guarantee quality science needed to make climate policy decisions, Macron proposed that the EU should fill the financing gap for the IPCC left open by the US administration’s decision to reduce funding. “France will meet that challenge, and I would like to see the largest number of European countries by our side,” said Macron. “All together, we can compensate for the loss of US funding.” Reacting almost immediately after the high-level segment, civil society groups from across the world described their statements as empty words with no concrete plan of action. The Pan African Climate Justice Alliance, (PACJA) accused the leaders of “playing hide and seek” with the lives of Africans who according to them are being cut short daily due to historic and ongoing actions of the developed world against the climate. What we need, according to John Bideri, co-Chair of the Alliance, are “enhanced actions on the provision of $100 billion per year up to 2020 and a new finance goal which should reflect the scientific requirements and needs of African countries.” “Advocacy-tainted…

BONN, Germany (PAMACC News) An important programme on how Agroforestry can be part of the solution to climate change has been published in a policy brief by the World Agroforestry Centre, ICRAF. The programme, launched at a side event at COP23 in Bonn, November 15, 2017 highlights how Agroforestry projects can propel achievement of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs )of different countries. Organised by the government of Peru and the World Agroforestry Centre, the event focused on the Peru’s experience in multi-sectoral process to the NDC implementation. The Peru government is leading a multi-stakeholder process through a Multi-sectorial working group, comprising 13 ministries and the Centre of Strategic Planning to meet NDC and sustainable development objectives. Agroforestry is a potential action being explored, says Elsa Galarza, Peru’s Minister of Environment. “Agroforestry has the potential to help governments better achieve their NDCs like the case of Peru,” Galarza said. Officials of the World Agroforestry Centre, says the new policy brief draws from Peru's experience, seeking to explore the degree to which agroforestry is represented in current NDCs ambitions, how its application is envisaged and contribution enhanced in other countries. “The programme is geared at better promoting coordinated climate action and helping governments to promote institutional arrangements for implementation of NDCs via Agroforestry projects,” notes Dr Peter Minang, Leader, Landscapes Governance Theme, World Agroforestry Centre. According to the policy brief, Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) have emerged as the main tool for defining, communicating and potentially reporting party contributions to the Paris Agreement on climate change. “Agroforestry has been identified as a key part of most developing country NDCs, hence it is a potentially important contributor to global climate objectives,” the brief stated. The NDCs align accordingly with relevant national policies as equal priority is given to balancing environmental integrity and development goals in order to ensure implementation of commitments, while transitioning to low emissions and to building climate resilience. Parity is then sought between adaptation and mitigation objectives. It also represents a process of prioritization in which countries consider options and possible scope for contributing to global climate mitigation objectives and increasingly, adaptation objectives beyond 2020. NDCs cover most of the possible emission reduction pathways and sectors from energy, transport, industry, through land use and land use changes including agriculture and forestry among others. Depending on the circumstances, mainly the sources of emissions and opportunities for emission reduction and resources, countries choose and prioritize different sectors Dr Minang says. The policy brief by ICRAF highlights that, “agroforestry is one of the land uses with most potential to fulfill commitments set out in NDCs and reduce emissions from agriculture”. Estimates of its potential to sequester vary widely, between 1.1–34.2 Pg C1globally. Over 85% of the 22 NDCs assessed mentioned agroforestry as a strategy for achieving unconditional NDCs commitments. Data from the brief shows that by converting 25% of deforested areas to agroforestry, about 80% of the non-annex I countries could achieve their unconditional commitments. The widespread use of agroforestry (about one billion hectares) and…

BONN, Germany (PAMACC News) In an innovative push to better drive its development projects in the continent, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) is looking forward to launching the Africa Environment Partnership Platform in May 2018. The Platform NEPAD officials say will serve as a coordinating organ to help galvanize resource mobilization efforts and for pursuing resource mobilization strategies, approaches to support the implementation of environmental initiatives, particularly those identified in the Environment Action Plan. “We have great initiatives on land degradation, like the great green wall, Grow Africa Programme, Africa Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA), so we hope this platform will be able to help us better coordinate these different activities,” Estherine Fotabong NEPAD Director of Programmes implementation and coordination said in an interview with PAMACC at COP23 in Bonn,Germany. The Environment Partnership Platform according to a concept note from NEPAD is in responds to a request from the African Union Summit which mandated African Ministerial Conference on Environment (AMCEN) to conduct a substantive analysis of the outcomes of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio +20) Summit and develop a roadmap for the effective implementation of the outcomes in Africa. “The platform will coordinate, mobilize resources, foster knowledge and align support for the implementation of the Environment Action Plan,” the concept note stated. Additionally, the 14th Session of AMCEN of September 2012, decided to develop and implement Regional Flagship Programmes (RFPs) as a means to ensure the effective implementation of the outcomes of the Rio +20 Summit. The platform will seek to deliver a paradigm shift in addressing environmental degradation in Africa, in both public and private sectors and to develop innovative models. It will also engender the prerequisite political support, needed institutional structures and adequate human capacity at national and regional levels to ensure integrated environmental management. The environment, though a cross cutting, will remain distinct and adequately harmonized with other sectors and priorities like agriculture, infrastructure and energy. Climate related risks will increasingly be mainstreamed into development and adaptation actions that will be carried out in priority regions and sectors to meet the need of especially vulnerable rural populations in Africa, according to NEPAD. The rural populations of Africa are heavily dependent on natural resources for livelihoods with the ecosystem providing food, medicine, energy and construction materials, thus the need to better coordinate project activities geared at guaranteeing food security. “Food security for Africa is not only derived from agriculture but also from natural resources and the ecosystems,” Fotabong points out. The platform is in response to a strong imperative to adopt a multi-sectoral approach to programme designing and implementation and strengthen the necessary synergies and improve coordination at various levels. To achieve this, a country-driven and regionally-integrated Initiative that will provide the tools for action and platform for partnerships that will deliver results has become imperative. Coordinated by NEPAD, the initiative will be fully aligned with and be an integral part of the CAADP framework, as well as cultivating the necessary multi-sectoral engagements, including…