The CAFI Annual report, whose 2019 edition is downloadable here, is consolidated every year by 31 May 2020 and published as soon as approved by the CAFI Executive Board.
Firmly set on its trajectory to simultaneously promote sustainable development and the preservation of forests in the Central African region, CAFI recorded a number of successes in 2019, through its unique combination of high-level policy dialogue and direct investments on the ground.
CAFI signed a US$ 150 million landmark agreement with Gabon for results-based payment, the first time an African country will be rewarded in a 10-year deal for both reducing its greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and degradation, and removals of carbon dioxide by natural forests.
President Macron of France (on behalf of the CAFI Presidency) and President Sassou of the Republic of Congo signed a US$ 65 million Letter of Intent. The Republic of Congo committed to protecting its peatlands and limiting the conversion of forests to 20,000 hectares per year, and this only outside of forests with high carbon stocks and high conservation value.
On the programming side, CAFI has funded or committed to funding 23 programmes for a total of over 232 million, with over 137 million dollars disbursed to date. The Initiative entered a new phase of the partnership with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A renewed dialogue with the new Minister of Environment concluded with a joint Forest Sector Roadmap to be implemented early 2020. The conclusion of the independent verification of the milestones of the Letter of Intent led to the high-level adoption of a joint Action Plan that in turn allowed the opening of the 2nd tranche of CAFI funding.
Funding commitments and deposits continued to increase, with Germany’s signature of a contribution agreement of over US$ 30 million to the CAFI Fund, South Korea’s announcement of a contribution of US$ 2 million to the CAFI Fund, and the signature of the European Union US$ 17 million agreement to the CAFI Fund. This brings the CAFI Fund capitalization to over 300 million US$.
Funding turned into action, as programming continued and programmes took off, with
The overall context remains cause for concern: while deforestation is stabilized in some countries (Congo, Gabon), 14 million hectares of tree cover are estimated to have been lost across the CAFI partner countries between 2000 and 2018[1]. Accelerating programme implementation, increasing policy dialogue especially in DRC, raising funds to scale up and maintaining high level commitments will be the challenges of the few coming years.
[1] From approximately 269 million hectares in 2000 to approximately 255 million hectares in 2018. Source GFC v1.6, with threshold 50%. Communication by FAO to the CAFI Executive Board, October 2019.