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On March 16, 2021 in Brazzaville, FRMi and Total signed a partnership with the Republic of Congo for the forestry and agroforestry plantation of 40,000 hectares on the Batéké plateaus.
This project will include agroforestry and forest plantations of acacia mangium and auriculiformis. The agroforestry plantations developed with local populations will combine food crops. The forest plantations will be treated as planted forests by 2040 and will promote the natural regeneration of local species. Industrial production will supply Brazzaville and Kinshasa with sawn timber and plywood with the installation of two factories and a cogeneration plant.
This operation, financed by Total, will produce multiple social, economic and environmental benefits.
It will create jobs and have a positive impact on several thousand people through :
The plantation will constitute a carbon sink of more than 10 million tons of CO2 sequestered over 20 years, which will be certified under the VCS (Verified Carbon Standard) and CCB (Climate Community and Biodiversity) standards.
"This ambitious and exemplary action is part of the National Afforestation and Reforestation Program (PRONAR) launched in 2011 to increase the national forest area and carbon storage capacity; create new sectors for the diversification of the national economy; and create a green economy in the Republic of Congo," concluded Rosalie Matondo, Minister of Forestry Economy of the Republic of Congo.
"We want to develop these projects with recognized partners, such as FRM, from whom we have much to learn, and in dialogue with the regions, in order to anchor our commitment over time and contribute to local development," added Adrien Henry, Director of Nature Based Solutions at Total.
"The land reserves of the Batéké Plateaux in Congo, covering more than 10 million hectares, offer a formidable means of combating climate change at the global level, and a unique opportunity for sustainable socio-economic development for the country, in areas that are nonetheless isolated," added Bernard Cassagne, Chairman and CEO of Forêt Ressources Management.
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