Support for the coordination of REDD+ positions of COMIFAC countries Burundi, Cameroun, République centrafricaine, Tchad, Congo, République démocratique du Congo, Guinée équatoriale, Gabon

Context of the service

The Congo Basin countries met within the Central African Forest Commission (COMIFAC), following the 1999 Declaration of Heads of State, known as the "Yaoundé Declaration", on the conservation and sustainable management of forest ecosystems in Central Africa. COMIFAC has adopted a "Convergence Plan" which includes ten strategic axes and is supported, for the implementation of this plan, by the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP). The latter was launched in 2002, at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, and brings together 34 members (Congo Basin countries, international NGOs, bilateral and multilateral development partners).
The France chaired the CBFP facilitation until September 2007. In this context, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), through a network of technical assistants and a consortium of experts, provided support to the "climate" focal points of the COMIFAC countries, in order to prepare the negotiations on the consideration of forests in a future regime to combat climate change post-2012 (after the end of the 1st commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol). The MFA requested support from the Ministry of Agriculture (in charge of monitoring the climate/forest negotiations), in order to co-facilitate this negotiation seminar. The purpose of the seminar was to prepare a submission to the Secretariat of the Climate Convention on the vision of COMIFAC Member States on the REDD+ mechanism.

Services provided

The expert facilitated exchanges between COMIFAC member States and synthesized the discussions and debates in a summary note. On the 1st day, the list of the main countries/groups of countries in the negotiations and the list of points of divergence under discussion were made. After that, a double-entry table, crossing countries/groups of countries and points of divergence, was developed and filled in gradually following the reminder of the positions of the countries/groups of countries. On the 2nd day, five points of debate in the REDD+ negotiations were debated and on which the COMIFAC countries wished to insist: 1/ Promotion of the fight against degradation in the REDD+ mechanism, 2/ National approach vs. Project approach, 3/ Reference scenario, 4/ REDD+ financing by the carbon market, 5/ Fund for the conservation of intact forests. On the 3rd day, the focal points separated into small groups and wrote short texts on each of the five points, before pooling in plenary and writing the submission itself. The 4th and last day was devoted to the elaboration of a proposal for a negotiating roadmap, integrated at the end of the submission. The draft submission was then reviewed and adopted in plenary.

Summary of the service

In the framework of the French Presidency of the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP), organization and facilitation of a workshop to coordinate the REDD+ positions of COMIFAC countries; Debates on five key issues: 1/ Promotion of the fight against degradation in the REDD+ mechanism, 2/ National approach vs. Project approach, 3/ Reference scenario, 4/ Financing of REDD+ by the carbon market, 5/ Fund for the conservation of intact forests; Preparation of a submission to the Secretariat of the Climate Convention on the vision of COMIFAC Member States on the REDD+ mechanism.