21 October 2019
Dedicated South-South learning sessions organized at CAFI's 14th Executive Board meeting in Geneva with Gabon, Republic of Congo, DRC, Central African Republic and Equatorial Guinea
In a new and much appreciated effort to foster South South exchanges and learning, the 14th CAFI Executive Board meeting was the first time that country-dedicated sessions were open to other countries. The Governments of Gabon, Republic of Congo, DRC, Central African Republic and Equatorial Guinea joined in.
The meeting was an opportunity to discuss the results of the independent verification of the milestones of the Letter of Intent with the DRC. The reports, elaborated by TEREA, will be publicly released after their analyses and recommendations are discussed with the DRC Government during the upcoming Annual Partnership review, to be held 11- 15 November 2019 in Kinshasa.
During the dialogue with Republic of Congo, with whom CAFI recently signed a Letter of Intent, coordination mechanisms for effective and inclusive implementation, under the leadership of the Prime Minister, were largely discussed.
A high level delegation from Equatorial Guinea, headed by Secretary of State of the Ministry of Finance, Economy and planification, made a clear demonstration of how the country is integrating its REDD+ objectives into its new National Development Strategy, and its endeavour to initiate a land-use planning process that takes into account the value of its large forest cover.
It was the first time that a delegate from the Central African Republic attended a CAFI EB meeting. In a country moving towards stabilization, the decentralization process including the national development plan and its new iteration were at the center of discussions.
The conversation with Gabon's National Climate Council representative was an opportunity to discuss the ongoing program on land use planning and monitoring (under the Letter of Intent signed in 2017), ask selected implementing agencies to develop full program proposals following a call for expressions of interest agreed to last June, and the addendum to the Letter of Intent to receive results-based payments (recently signed at the 2019 Climate Action Summit in New York).
Other main conversations focused on CAFI's new presidency (with Germany taking over from France in 2020), the Korea Forest Service experience and perspective as a new CAFI donor, and strategic issues for CAFI in its post 2020 phase.
During a traditional Swiss fondue dinner hosted by UNDP, Ambassadors from the sub-region highlighted CAFI's achievements and continuing efforts to enhance coordination and funding for Central African forests and people.