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Important Congo basin parks get funding Wildlife Conservation Society March 28, 2007
Called the Transboundary Sangha Trinational Forest Landscape, the region covers 28,000 square kilometers (10,800 square miles) and includes three contiguous national parks: Lobeke in Cameroon, Dzanga-Ndoki in Central Africa Republic, and Nouabalé-Ndoki in the Republic of Congo. It also contains the highest densities of gorillas, forest elephants and other wildlife in Central Africa. The trust fund will provide stable, long-term funding for the management of the region’s protected areas. More than 11 million Euros (14.6 million dollars) have already been pledged by the German Bank for Reconstruction (KfW), the French Development Agency (AFD), and WWF/ the German Rainforest Foundation. The fund’s target is 30 million Euros (approximately 40 million dollars). Its legal base is in the United Kingdom but executive offices will be in Cameroon. The fund will be managed by a board of directors including representatives of the Governments of Cameroon, Congo, Central African Republic, Wildlife Conservation Society, World Wildlife Fund and others.
This initiative is the result of work done over the past 20 years in partnership among the three concerned governments along with numerous technical and financial partners including AFD, a range of German development aid agencies (BMZ/KFW/GTZ), Wildlife Conservation Society, World Wildlife Fund, the USAID-funded CARPE program, the French Cooperation, the Saccharuna Foundation and the WWF/World Bank Alliance for the conservation and sustainable use of forests. Related articles Britain invests $100M to protect Congo rainforest. Britain will invest nearly $100 million (£50m) in a initiative to protect the Congo rainforest, the second largest tropical forest in the world. Ten other countries are also supporting the project. Congo's forests get some relief from World Bank grant. Last week the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) received a $90-million grant from the World Bank to support the central African country's transition from instability and civil war. The grant addresses key areas in DRC's forestry sector and alleviates some of the concerns expressed by environmentalists shortly before the resolution was passed. The Congo rain forest, an overview of a threatened ecosystem. Known as the heart of darkness by Joseph Conrad, the Congo region has long conjured up thoughts of pygmies, mythical beasts, dreadful plagues, and cannibals. It is a land made famous by the adventures of Stanley and Livingstone and known as a place of brutality and violence for its past -- the days of the Arab slave and ivory trade, its long history of tribal warfare -- and its present -- the ethnic violence and massacres of today. This is a modified news release from Wildlife Conservation Society Comments? News options News index | RSS | Add to MyYahoo! Advertisements: Organic Apparel from Patagonia | Insect-repelling clothing |
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