Timeline

Objectives

• Identify and map high-integrity, largely undegraded forests and HIFOR-eligible areas across all CAFI partner countries, where long-term finance could reward conservation and forest stewardship.
• Select promising landscapes based on their climate and biodiversity value and the practical conditions for conservation : prioritise pilot landscapes in DRC, Republic of Congo, and Gabon using clear criteria (institutional capacity, security, climate risks, biodiversity and socio-economic benefits) and assess overlaps with HCV/HCS/IFL/KBA and REDD+ areas.
• Lay the groundwork for payments that support forest conservation and the livelihoods of Indigenous Peoples and local communities : define the next steps and feasibility (legal, technical, financial), with structured stakeholder engagement, MOUs, and data-sharing to operationalize HIFOR pilots, and ensure alignment and financing logic with CAFI Letters of Intent, national land-use processes, the Libreville Plan, and FCLP Action Area 6-laying the groundwork for environmental service payments that reward forest stewards.

Results to date

• Approximately 151.3 million hectares of high-integrity forests were mapped across the six CAFI partner countries, using 2024 forest data. These forests retain much of their original structure and ecological functions.
• Screening of 468 forest management units identified 54 potentially eligible landscapes in five countries. Together, they cover approximately 28.4 million hectares, including 24.6 million hectares of high-integrity forests.
• A bilingual interactive mapping platform brings together potential sites and information on biodiversity, carbon and risks such as fire, conflict and land-use change. It provides a practical basis for identifying where future forest conservation finance could have the greatest value.

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