The Wild Things
Take Action
Travel
Adopt a Mountain Gorilla
Support WWF
|
 |
Congo Basin
Partnerships
Lasting conservation is achieved by collaborating with a range of extraordinary partners, from governments to local communities and from businesses to generous individual supporters. By leveraging the strengths of our collaborations, we are able to accomplish our greatest successes.
In the Congo Basin, partnerships are vital to WWF’s efforts to ensure one of the most important wilderness areas is protected and maintained across political borders. Whether it is an issue of biology, policy or economics, partnerships and coalitions such as the Central African Forests Commission and the Congo Basin Forest Partnership are crucial in building scientific consensus, lobbying capacity and engaging the local community. They are all necessary for us to achieve our vision.
Congo Basin Forest Partnership
The CBFP helps to fund and protect conservation areas.
© WWF-Canon/Martin Harvey
The Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP) is the unifying force at work in the region. As a founding member, WWF sees CBFP as a beacon of conservation cooperation.
From the forest elephants on the seashores of Gabon to the mountain gorillas of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the CBFP and its members help ensure the protection of numerous vulnerable and endangered species. Focusing on 12 key landscapes and working to create new national parks and strengthen existing forest authorities, the CBFP is providing a world of new opportunities for conservation and sustainable development in the Congo Basin.
Co-funded by a $53 million investment from the United States and matched by WWF and other NGO implementers during the first phase of operation (2002-2005), the CBFP is composed of 36 governmental organizations, NGOs and intergovernmental groups. The second phase began in September 2006 and runs through 2011, with an additional $75 million investment from the United States. The U.S. government’s role in CBFP is facilitated by USAID through its Central Africa Regional Program for the Environment (CARPE) office.
The CBFP coordinates programs across multiple donors and implementing agencies. The partnership aims to raise awareness of programs, increase efficiency, and eliminate gaps and overlaps in programs and funding. In addition to conservation goals, the partnership also has development objectives such as encouraging potential donors to contribute, ensuring good governance and raising local living standards.
Download a factsheet on the Congo Basin Forest Partnership, and other publications.
Central Africa Forest & Trade Network
To promote, support and guide logging companies that understand how good logging practices can lead to a market advantage, WWF has set up the Central Africa Forest & Trade Network (CAFTN) for responsible forest management and trade.
The CAFTN - a part of WWF's Global Forest & Trade Network (GFTN) - is a platform for partnership between forest managers, processors and other stakeholders committed to responsible forest management and the credible and independent certification of forest management and chain of custody.
The CAFTN facilitates access to markets where logging companies can sell their goods, and provides technical and financial support to help companies achieve certification.
To date, five Forest Management Units (FMUs) totalling more than 1.5 million acres have been certified under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) in Cameroon - including those of SEFAC, a member of CAFTN. Fourteen additional FMUs managed by CAFTN members are in the process of earning FSC certification. Furthermore, there are six more FMUs managed by non-CAFTN members undergoing FSC certification. In total, approximately 17 percent of the forest attributed for logging is now either FSC certified or in the process of being certified.
Edzengui community forum
The Edzengui community forum has achieved a 50 percent decrease in poaching.
© WWF Gabon
In Gabon's Minkébé Forest, the BaKa indigenous people lack access to schools, social services, medicine and even the right to vote. Some Baka became involved in poaching as a way to feed their families
WWF helped form an association, "Edzengui," named for the "Spirit of the Forest" which unites the BaKa in respect for their natural habitat. WWF is providing Edzengui members with community-based agricultural training. The BaKa recognize that wildlife is becoming scarce and they are eager to find new ways to support their families.
Conservation is increasingly seen as the way forward. As a result of this initiative, the number of elephants killed annually has dropped over a three year period by over 50 percent.
Click the globe to explore WWF's work
