Britain, Norway Launch Fund To Preserve Congo Basin Rainforest
The Prime Ministers of Britain and Norway on Tuesday launched a multi-million-pound initiative to preserve the rainforest in the Congo Basin (Congo bækkenet), which has been described as “the worlds second lung”.
Gordon Brown and Jens Stoltenberg announced the 195 million US dollar (100 mio. pound – knapt en milliard DKR) fund in cooperation with the Commission for the Forests of Central Africa (COMIFAC) and the African Development Bank. Each country will contribute 50 million pound, while Britain pledged an additional 8 million pound.
Britains Department for International Development (DfID – det britiske Danida) said the money would help create a satellite monitoring system to give the first detailed view of the rate of deforestation in the Congo, with the pictures beamed direct to Central Africa.
Stoltenberg said as much as one fifth of current greenhouse gas emissions were caused by deforestation, but experts believed the emissions could be substantially lowered in a relatively short period.
The fund is intended to provide African governments and people living in the rainforest with a viable alternative to logging, mining, and felling trees for firewood and subsistence farming.
Projects will be eligible for funds if they can demonstrate that they will curb the destruction of forest, by providing alternative sources of income or energy for example.
Their effectiveness will be monitored from above by high definition cameras being made in the Rutherford Appleton laboratory in Oxfordshire, UK, due to be mounted on satellites and launched into orbit in the next two years.
British and Norwegian officials acknowledge that the biggest challenge will be ensuring that the money is effectively spent.
The new Congo Basin Forest Fund will be co-chaired by Wangari Maathai, a Kenyan environmental activist and Nobel Peace laureate, and Paul Martin, a former Canadian Prime Minister.
Maathai said the scheme was an example of “carbon justice” by which industrialized countries responsible for global warming entered into partnerships with those suffering its effects or those being asked to sacrifice their own economic development in the interests of the planet.
BACKGROUND
The DR Congo (former Zaire) has the second largest swath of rainforests in the world. With 86 million hectares of area covered by rainforests, DR Congo accounts for over half of the total remaining rainforests in the Central Africa region.
Congolese forests are a vital resource, both for the Congolese people and the global environment. About 40 million rural Congolese depend on the forests for their food, income, energy, shelter, medicines and cultural needs. Indigenous groups, including the Pygmies, rely almost entirely on the forests.
Described as the “second lung” of the planet for their ability to store carbon dioxide on a global scale, the Congolese forests serve an important public good. Carbon dioxide is the green house gas responsible for global warming.
The forests also harbor amazing animal and plant diversity including endemic species such as Bonobo chimpanzees and the Okapi.
The DR Congo is emerging from a decade of political instability and violent conflict that led to the near-collapse of the economy, causing annual per capita incomes to plummet to 120 US dollar in 2005 (down from 380 dollar in 1985). Experts have described this as “development in reverse” (udvkling i bakgear).
Elections, the first in the vast countrys history, took place in July and October 2006; in early 2007, a government led by President Joseph Kabila assumed power.
Promoting sustainable management in this largest remaining natural swath of rain forests in Africa is critical, both for securing the well-being of millions of poor people who are forest-dependent, and ensuring the viability of these unique assets.
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
