COMIFAC re-launches the activities of the Working Group on Forest Governance (GTGF)

27.08.2021

As mentioned on the COMIFAC website, a meeting of the forest governance working group (GTGF) was held at the initiative of COMIFAC from 9 to 12 August. The purpose of this meeting was to prepare for the international symposium on tropical forests, to discuss the sub-regional workshop on timber taxation (incentive taxation), to comment on the GIZ Tropical Timber Trade (TTT) project, and to work with the ATIBT on the issue of tropical timber boycott in the context of the Paris 2024 Olympic construction site. The overall objective of this workshop was also to re-launch the activities of the GTGF.

*Hervé Maidou, Executive Secretary of COMIFAC /* *Photo Credit : COMIFAC website*

The aim was to :

present the new structure of the GTGF as well as its new missions;
validate the composition of the GTGF;
validate the composition of the members of the GTGF thematic groups;
decipher the resolutions taken during the sixteenth session of the UNFF
elaborate the roadmap for the capacity building of countries for the elaboration of national reports and the sub-regional synthesis on the implementation of the United Nations Strategic Plan on Forests 2017-2030 (UNSPF);
review the logical framework of the program to promote trade in legal and sustainable tropical timber between Africa, China and international markets as a prelude to the International Symposium on Tropical Forests;
Prepare a common position on the boycott of African tropical timber.

The meeting also contributed to the materialization of the commitment of Central African countries to collaborate for the sustainable management of their tropical forest ecosystems which constitute the forest massif of the Congo Basin, recognized for its exceptional biodiversity, the importance of its economic potential, its social and cultural values for the local and indigenous communities, as well as its essential contribution to the balance of the planet.

About fifty participants took part in the event, representing, among others, resource persons from COMIFAC member countries, representatives of forestry administrations, civil society, technical and financial partners, as well as the private sector.

The opening ceremony was marked by three speeches: from the chargé d'affaires of the German Embassy in Congo, Jonas Wiesenecker, the Executive Secretary of COMIFAC, Hervé Maidou, and the Minister of the Forest Economy, Ms. Rosalie Matondo.

As a reminder, COMIFAC has set up specialized working groups, including the Forest Governance Working Group (GTGF), which functions as a flexible network of experts on priority issues to facilitate the realization of its statutory missions.

The meeting was financially supported by the German Technical Cooperation for Development (GIZ), through the GIZ Project "Regional Support to COMIFAC".