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19 March 2021, Brazzaville - The Green Climate Fund (GCF) has approved a $US 46.5 million project to support the reduction of carbon emissions and generate adaptation co-benefits for smallholder farmers in the Republic of Congo’s deforestation hotspots.

Over the 20-year lifespan, the PREFOREST project is expected to mitigate 16.7 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, and establish the equivalent of around 14,500 football fields of agroforestry systems. The project will improve the livelihoods of more than 40,000 vulnerable smallholder farmers, a third of whom are women, through the restoration of degraded land and the establishment of sustainable forestry and agroforestry systems. Over 16 percent of the country’s population are expected to indirectly benefit from the project.

This is a groundbreaking project for the country: It is the first GCF full proposal to be approved in Congo, and the first GCF forestry project to be approved in the Congo Basin. It is also the first collaboration between the GCF and the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI), and the first GCF project led by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to receive co-financing from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

FAO will implement the project over an 8-year period in collaboration with the Congolese Government through the Ministry of Forest Economy (MEF). The collaborative effort driving the project will pave the way for greater impact on a wider scale in the Congo Basin.

“This initiative is key to enabling the Government of Congo to deliver on its Nationally Determined Contributions by halving its greenhouse gas emissions by 2035 and creating sources of income for people in the project areas. We welcome the partnership with the Green Climate Fund, FAO, CAFI and the other important allies,” said Rosalie Matondo, Minister of Forest Economy

Together for a sustainable, low-carbon future

Located in the heart of the Congo Basin, Congo is one of the world’s most vulnerable countries to climate change and among the least ready to adapt to the impacts of a changing climate. The combined effect of climate change and low local production capacity creates food insecurity, which greatly increases the vulnerability of local communities and indigenous populations.

PREFOREST aims to address slash-and-burn farming for agricultural expansion and unsustainable fuelwood production, which are the country’s main drivers of deforestation and forest degradation. Deforestation generates 81 percent of the country's greenhouse gas emissions, while wood extraction for energy and unstainable logging practices lead to forest degradation – another large source of emissions.

“This major project will support the Government's efforts to promote resilient forestry and land-use practices that will increase agricultural productivity for smallholder farmers, slow the expansion of agricultural lands into forests, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” said Yannick Rasoarimanana, FAO Representative in Congo.

The project focuses on the country’s three large agricultural and fuelwood supply basins: Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire, the Niari valley, and the towns of Dolisie, Madingou and Nkayi.

Major areas of work under the project include strengthening local communities’ access to land and tenure rights as building blocks for the transition to sustainable agricultural, forestry and fuelwood production activities. Community-based initiatives will also promote climate-resilient agroforestry and forestry practices, and will help people build the entrepreneurial skills needed to develop and deliver robust and bankable business models in the agroforestry sector.

In addition to a $28.9 million GCF grant, the project will receive $9 million in co-financing from the Government of Congo, $7 million from the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI), and $1.6 million from IFAD. The PREFOREST project will also catalyse private sector investment to support and scale up interventions beyond the duration of the project, thus ensuring the transformation of Congo’s agricultural sector into one that is more productive and more sustainable.