How to preserve the tropical forests, green lung of the planet? In Libreville, the “One Forest Summit” calls for innovative financing for the countries concerned.
The green lung of the planet, the African forest of the Congo Basin is the largest tropical forest in the world following the Amazon. While it stores 40 billion tonnes of CO2 according to the CENAREST Gabon scientific research center, it represents a key challenge for the climate and biodiversity. Gabon is one of the six countries it covers.
Tropical forests and their preservation were at the heart of the One Forest Summit early March. This international conference, co-organized by France and Gabon, brought together in the Gabonese capital, Libreville, political leaders, business leaders, scientists and NGOs from around twenty countries.
The opportunity to recall that African forests are now at the forefront of the fight once morest climate change according to Alfred Ngomanda, Commissioner General of CENAREST Gabon. “That’s 10 years of global greenhouse gas emissions that are currently stored in the forests of the Congo Basin,” points out this great specialist in the subject. “In Gabon, it’s 100 million tons a year,” he specifies.
Financing at the heart of the issues
Among the priority issues of the summit: the question of funding. Gabon is one of the rare countries to absorb more CO2 than it emits and it wishes to see its environmental efforts compensated at fair value. “Gabon has worked to reduce its CO2 emissions,” emphasizes Lee White, Gabonese Minister of Forests, Sea and Environment.
“A reduction of 90 million tonnes of CO2 emissions has been documented. We compared 2000 to 2009, with 2010-2018, and we have reduced our emissions by 90 million tonnes. The scientific data has been validated and the credits (REDD+) were finally validated in November 2022, during the Sharm el-Sheikh COP, COP27“, he recalls.
Reconciling economic development and environmental protection is the challenge that this country, still dependent on oil revenues, intends to take up. “In Gabon, an oil country, in the next 20 years or so, because the G20 countries have filled the atmosphere with CO2, there will be no market for our oil. We will have to replace 50% of our economy,” explique Lee White.
88% of Gabon covered by forest
Gabon has implemented strong policies to defend the forests which cover 88% of its territory. Pongara Park is one of 13 national parks created 20 years ago to protect exceptionally diverse flora and fauna. Among the species prohibited from exploitation, Kevazingo, an emblematic wood of Gabon, rare and expensive.
Alain Jessy Banguiya, eco-guide at Pongara Park, explains: “The Kevazingo has enormous potential for loggers. The Asians use it illegally. So the government has made commitments for its protection“.
Forest elephants, giant pangolins, lowland gorillas, the parks are refuges for many species threatened by illegal trafficking. But the guards in charge of their protection lack the means.
Fight once morest poaching and illegal deforestation
“The biggest problem is poaching“, indicates Patrick Evezoo, curator of the park of Pongara.The poaching of elephants, the poaching of plant species, those who cut wood illegally and there is the poaching of fish species at sea level; like in all the other parks, we need a lot of resources to do our job well,” he explains.
Outside the national parks, the exploitation of the forest via sustainable sectors is another avenue explored by Gabon. 10 years ago, the country banned the export of raw logs, to process the wood on site, a product with higher added value.
A third of the timber harvested in Gabon’s forests passes through a special economic zone that is exemplary in terms of sustainable management. This area of Nkok hosts around a hundred companies, many of which are linked to the forestry industry. A service called Tracer ensures that all the wood that arrives on site is legal.
Traced and legal timber in the Economic Zone of Nkok
“We will check the documents in relation to the legal existence of the supplier, in relation to the access rights to the supplier’s forest resources. Afterwards, our teams will go to the field to check the practices,“says Serafin Ngouambe, technical coordinator of Tracer-Nkok.
Launched ten years ago, the Nkok Special Economic Zone has been certified for its carbon neutrality. Among the recently installed operators, the first plant in Central Africa to manufacture chipboard panels from wood waste.
“When this area was launched, it was using 40% wood. Today, we manage to use 90% of the log through the recovery of waste,” underlines Waris Moulenda Fatombi, from the ZES de Nkok.
Sustainable management of tropical forests and financial support for exemplary countries, commitments made in Libreville that remain to be implemented for the future of all.