The Ivorian government, through the combined action of several ministries, including the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (MINEDD), aims to gradually restore its forest cover to 20% by 2030. In order to meet this challenge, it applied for and obtained, with the support of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), a fund of five billion CFA francs from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) in the framework of the implementation of the five-year project “Promoting deforestation-free cocoa production to reduce emissions in Côte d'Ivoire (PROMIRE).”

Parfait Kouadio, Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, proceeded on Tuesday July 27, 2021, in Abidjan to officially launch this project. “We have observed that one of the drivers of deforestation in Côte d'Ivoire is farming. We want, through this project, to continue to remain the leading cocoa producing country, but through sustainable, intelligent farming that will not come at the expense of the forest. Hence the interest of a farm without deforestation," he said during the event.

The launching ceremony, followed by a workshop, saw the participation of some 50 participants including members of government, technical partners, private sector and civil society actors and the FAO team.

The first component of the project will help finalize and operationalize the REDD+ architecture in order to prepare the country for future results-based payments, including civil society in its role of supporting communities.

The second component will scale up models of land management and establish agroforestry and forestry systems, through the restoration of degraded forests, by supporting farmers and cooperatives in 32 villages, in collaboration with the Forest Development Corporation (Société de développement des forêts), the National Agency for Rural Development Support (Agence Nationale d'Appui au Développement Rural) and the Coffee Cocoa Board (Conseil Cacao Café), and supporting the efforts of the private cocoa sector and the Cocoa and Forests Initiative (CFI). The regions of La Mé, Agneby Tiassa and Sud Comoé are targeted for the implementation of this project’s actions. The implementation will be carried out jointly by the Permanent Executive Secretariat of REDD+ (SEP-REDD +) and FAO.

According to Lieutenant-Colonel Ahoulou Kouamé, head of SEP-REDD+, the objective of the PROMIRE project is to contribute to a "cohabitation" between the forest and cocoa production as well as other associated crops. "We have to change our behavior and ensure that, in all cocoa plots, we can insert trees," he said.

FAO officials, whose contribution was pivotal in the development of this project, reiterated the interest of the PROMIRE project for Côte d'Ivoire. For Zitouni Ould-Dada, Deputy Director of the FAO Office for Climate Change, Biodiversity and Environment: “The PROMIRE project is a sign of hope. We can turn the tide of deforestation and forest degradation by transforming agriculture that results in land conversion and loss of biodiversity into sustainable agricultural production that improves incomes and livelihoods. Together, let's reverse the course of deforestation,” he insisted.

Samy Gaiji, FAO Representative in Côte d'Ivoire, for his part praised the efforts of Ivorian partners, mentioning that "The PROMIRE project is an Ivorian pride. It is the result of all the efforts that have been made over the past twenty years and that have made it possible to overcome the effects of the crisis and to build, in a decade, one of the most advanced legislative, regulatory and institutional frameworks in Africa. This project is also the start of a much larger investment on the theme of "zero deforestation" and new models of agricultural production. Côte d'Ivoire is positioning itself in the sub-region as a new model of economic development and this model must be promoted."

The launch, marked by this workshop, also made it possible to familiarize stakeholders with the project objectives, activities, results and expected impacts, the indicators and baseline data, and with the implementation arrangements and finally, providedupdates regarding recent changes in the context of intervention.

Contacts :

Jonas ASSAMOI, Coordonnateur du projet PROMIRE, [email protected]

Samy GAIJI, Représentant de la FAO en Côte d’Ivoire, [email protected]

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