14 February 2005 - FAO reconfirmed its commitment to provide technical and policy support for the conservation of the Congo Basin forests following the signing of the first regional conservation treaty for the basin on 5 February.

At the Second Heads of State Forest Summit in Central Africa held the first week of February, Heads of State not only signed a treaty on sustainable mangement of the Congo Basin forests but also agreed to establish a financial mechanism to fund projects and institutions to this end. The treaty designated FAO as the lead United Nations organization to provide technical support.

"As a key organization that contributed to the preparation of the plan that led to the summit and in view of our extensive experience in Central Africa, we hope that the establishment of a financial mechanism will add momentum to FAO's work in providing technical and policy advice to country members of the Commission for Forests for Central Africa (COMIFAC) at the national and subregional levels and in collaboration with other partners," said Jean-Prosper Koyo, an FAO forestry expert on central Africa.

At around 241 million hectares, the Congo Basin is the world's second largest tropical forest. It spans across eleven Central African countries, namely Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Sao Tome and Principe. COMIFAC is the subregional organization tasked with overseeing forest management of the basin.

FAO is committed to assist governments in formulating and implementing policies and in adopting practices that will lead to sustainable forest management.

Heads of State at the summit agreed to create a subregional trust fund with revenues collected from tax levied on traded forest products and invest the money in forest conservation projects in the basin.

The annual deforestation rate in the Congo Basin is around 934 000 hectares, mainly due to land use change to agriculture and collection of fuelwood. Logging and the collection of non-wood forest products add to the degradation of forest resources in the basin.

"If properly managed, the tropical forest could play an important role as the habitat of many diverse species and as the world's second largest carbon-absorbing lung," Koyo said.

The tropical forest is home to many primates, pachyderms, amphibians and plants that are unique to the basin.

The forests, its products and services also hold immense potential to support the social, economic and cultural development of its inhabitants, Koyo said. With proper management, the basin forests could equally satisfy much of the world's large demand for tropical wood.

FAO has been providing policy and technical advice on sustainable forest management for decades in the region and projects worth eight million US dollars have been launched already in 2003 and 2004. Recently, FAO has taken the initiative together with other organizations to assist governments with the development of their forest programmes, including legislative and regulatory frameworks, and to support subregional dialogue under COMIFAC. It has been instrumental in helping the governments apply appropriate forest management techniques. A regional code for reduced impact logging has been elaborated under FAO guidance and the organization initiated a collaborative study to assess the training needs of the forestry sector in the related countries.

FAO plans to continue developing the capacity of governments in formulating policies and making the necessary institutional changes so as to enable countries to independently manage their forests within a coherent subregional framework. It will also develop methods and techniques adapted to the subregion in order to increase the contribution of forests to food security and poverty alleviation.

"FAO is committed to see this treaty bear fruits and concrete actions taken on the ground for the restoration of the Congo Basin rainforest," Koyo said.