DRCongo : Partners renew their commitment to the forest sector

Renewed policy dialogue and a “Forest sector roadmap” paved the way for the approval of the programme for the Sustainable Management of Forests 

Kinshasa, 5 December : Under the presidency of the Minister of Finance and with the participation of his counterparts for the Environment, Land use planning, Land tenure, Agriculture and Energy, of the Norwegian and French Ambassadors and Congolese civil society, today the DRC National REDD+ Fund Steering Committee approved the “Programme for the Sustainable Management of Forests" (often referred to by its French acronym, PGDF). The Programme is co-funded by CAFI (12 million in two tranches of 6 million), the French Development Agency, that is also its implementing agency (4.4 million), and with activities from the French Facility for Global Environment (FFEM, 1.1 million) contributing to its objectives.

Back in April 2018, the PGDF had received a positive recommendation by the DRC Technical Committee (see the press release of its 14th meeting), pending the integration of final revisions.

The National REDD+ Investment Plan of the DRC highlights the “particularly severe illegal logging situation" and the need to improve the management of forests, be it industrial or artisanal. In its Letter of Intent with CAFI, the DRC Government took 13 specific engagements (milestones) related to the improvement of the forest sector, a number of which have been fully or partially met, an independent process recently concluded. 

In a country where forests cover more than half of the territory, the forest sector could be driving the transition towards a green economy. Broadly speaking, the PGDF seeks to support the establishment of legal conditions for a better governance and sustainable management of the forest sector, and improve the way timber is extracted and valued. Its specific objectives are to

1. Contribute to the elaboration of a strategy to strengthen the economic governance of the sector
2. Support the transparent and participatory elaboration of a Forest policy
3. Contribute to developing the forest/timber artisanal sector with legal practices
4. Support the sustainable management of forests by communities and territorial entities 
5. Ensure that the management of large forest concessions is performed in accordance to Congolese law
6. Strengthen the capacity of local forest and decentralized administration

For CAFI, the approval of this programme was made possible by the renewal of the dialogue with the DRC’s new Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, initiated at the UN Secretary General Climate Action Summit and by the development and approval of a joint Roadmap for the Forest Sector. 

This roadmap reconfirms the new Minister's engagement to respect the milestones of the Letter of Intent. Through this roadmap, the Minister committed to strengthening governance of the forest sector, support sustainable management in forest concessions and in the artisanal sector, and promote various approaches for managing forests by local communities and decentralized territorial entities.

The roadmap also highlights the Minister’s commitment to taking immediate actions, before the effective start of the PGDF expected next Fall, including

• Launching a process to elaborate the National Forest Policy, in line with the participatory approach of article 4 of the Forest Code - from January 2020
• Organizing the first meetings of the National Consultative Committee on Forests (CCNF in French), with strengthened participation of the private and public sector and national and international civil society, while revising the Decree that established it
• Undertaking, during the 1^st semester of 2020, a review of the legality of forest titles, conducted by an external auditing firm recruited through a process involving the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, the European Union and the National REDD+ Fund.