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CARPOCARPOA quarterly publication of WWF Central African RegionalFOCUSFOCUS Programme Office N° 007 April-June 2006 PreservingPreserving pristinepristine landscapeslandscapes inin thethe CongoCongo BasinBasin Contents Editorial Making bold commitments for Are we winning the race to stop biodiversity loss? 4 conservation Tales from Virunga 6-8 n his opinion note to the The Elephant : Preserving one of nature’s 8th Conference of Parties remaining wonders 9-13 of Convention on IBiological Diversity (CBD) Western Lowland gorillas 14-15 which was held in Curitiba, Brazil from the 20th to the Central African Poverty Alleviation Programme*: 31st of March 2006, James P. From nightmares to real aspirations 16-17 Leape (WWF Director General) said it all: “the Wildlife sanctuary found in Nki National Park 18-19 conservation and sustainable management of forests and Rotterdam to Bayanga*: Switch to conservation the species that live in them engines 20 are critical for the survival of local, rural and indigenous communities in the developing world, many of whom are poor Journey to Virgin Land 21 and have been marginalized by poorly designed development strategies of the past. Bold commitments and ambitious part- Un nouveau Point Focal du programme CARPE nerships are the secret to achieving successful conservation”. en République Démocratique du Congo 23 In the Central African sub region which is host to the world’s second largest tropical forest area, there is need to keep the momentum moving forward ever. Bold commitments are needed to protect animal and plant species that are an essential source of food, materials and shelter for over 20 million people in the sub region. The forests are also important cultural values as they play an important role in many forest societies’ belief systems. Bold commitments will only go on to secure the extremely rich natural resources of the sub region whose timber and non- timber forest products form an important source for their eco- nomy. Maintaining the integrity of the entire Central African Forests should be a global priority for ecological services such as clean water, protection from floods and global climate stabili- Coordonateur: zation. Laurent Somé These commitments sometimes call for difficult choices to be made; for example in deciding whether a logging company Directeur de Publication: should or should not operate around a biodiversity hotspot. As Peter Ngea much as the government concerned will want to count on the Ont collaboré à ce numéro : expected taxes and also the nearby communities on the jobs and other smaller fall outs, there is such a threat to biodiver- Augustine NDIMU, Carine KANYEBA; Ken Cochrane; sity that make other gains pale and short lived. Jane MOLISA; Yolente DELAUNOY; WWF encourages partnerships in the sub region as a cushion Fidelis PEGUE MANGA; Véronique TSHIBALANGA to ensure proper conservation of forests and species for the good of the local, rural and indigenous communities. With the Conception et réalisation : commitments already made by Heads of State in the sub Peter NGEA et Fidèle Perrier O. region in favour of preserving large portions of their tropical Impression ; forests, one may say with optimism that the Central African Colorisprint - Yaoundé region is in the race to protect what’s left of the world’s forests. WWF CARPO, Rue Citronel, Immeuble Panda House, BAT Compound, Bastos Yaoundé – Cameroon, Laurent Somé B.P. : 6776. Tél +237 221 70 83 E-mail : [email protected] Website : www.panda.org Front page photo : Loxodonta africana cylotis forest Elephants saline at Dzanga-Sangha reserve © WWF-Canon / Frederick J. WEYERHAEUSER Events CARPO FOCUS N° 007 April-June 2006 3 Protocol agreement : Cameroon Ministry of Forests and Wildlife and WWF n pursuit of joint actions on the ground between WWF - Capacity building, training and research and the Cameroon Ministry of Forests and Wildlife - Amelioration of policy, legislative and institutional fra- I(MINFOF) a protocol agreement was signed in mework and the development of finance mechanism Yaoundé on April 28, 2006 by the Minister, Mr. Egbe for conservation and sustainable use of forest and Hillman and WWF CARPO Regional Representative, wildlife resources. Laurent Somé. The accord lays down a strategic frame work of collaboration on the following main issues: The ceremony was attended by the US and Dutch - Sustainable forest management and certification Ambassadors to Cameroon, the COMIFAC Executive - Management of protected areas and species conser- Secretary as well as a couple of other personalities and vation partners. Labour Day H R at Mount Cameroon slopes WWF CARPO staff in charge of human resources mana- gement and operations from field projects and national WWF staff in the sub region joined in the celebration of offices were brainstorming at the slopes of Mount Labour Day on May 1. On behalf of staff, Delegates in Cameroon in a bid to lay down a road map for CARPO in Yaoundé called on management to have a closer and this domain. clean look at human resources and staff capacity and An important component of the April workshop in Limbe growth. Regional Representative, Laurent Somé said was to offer participants the life time opportunity of clim- progress was being made and called for redoubled bing the 4070 M high mountain. Joined by colleagues efforts especially as CARPO was in to the Congo basin from Gland, it was difficult to say who did not finish or Keystone Initiative. start the climbing. 4 CARPO FOCUS N° 007 April-June 2006 Opinion Editorial Partial view of Nki National Park Photo : WWF CARPO / Peter Ngea AreAre wewe winningwinning thethe racerace toto stopstop biodiversitybiodiversity loss?loss? By James P. Leape* With the natural forest loss rate at 13 million hectares a year - about 25 hectares a minute - the race is on to protect what's left of the world's forests. Opinion Editorial CARPO FOCUS N° 007 April-June 2006 5 f the world's governments want to ring is no easy task, but the multi- significantly reduce the current stakeholder initiative has been living Irate of biodiversity loss by 2010, up to expectations and delivering as they have signed up to do under extraordinary conservation results. the United Nation's Convention on Nearly 16 million hectares of protec- Biological Diversity, they are going to ted areas have already been crea- have to stem the tide of deforesta- ted. And, just last month Brazilian tion, and increase protection efforts President Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva and sustainable uses, such as certi- signed a decree creating new pro- fied forest management. tected areas in the Amazonian State Photo : WWF CANON / Klaus-Henning GROTH of Para. Comprising an area of 6.4 Protecting earth's lungs million hectares - twice the size of Forests are the lungs of the earth, Belgium - the designation includes regulating the earth's climate, and two new national parks and the are our storehouses of biological major expansion of a third, four diversity, hosting over two-thirds of national forests, and an environmen- known terrestrial species and nume- tal protection zone where develop- rous plants and herbs, some of which may hold the secrets to curing Forests are the lungs cancer and other diseases. It is esti- mated that some 1.6 billion people of the earth, regula- worldwide depend on forests, inclu- ting the earth's clima- ding 60 million indigenous people te, and are our store- who call them home. James P. Leape But, only about 12%, or 480 million houses of biological rainforest in Borneo - the world's hectares, of the planet's forests have diversity third largest island - through a net- been formally protected. WWF, the work of protected areas and sustai- global conservation organization, nably-managed forests. has been part of the drive to increa- ment is strictly regulated. This se protection, helping to safeguard mosaic of new protected areas The Congo Basin case large tracts of forests and pristine opens genuine prospects for halting And in Africa, WWF helped bring landscapes in the Amazon, Borneo, deforestation, conserving biodiversi- together African heads of states to the Congo Basin, Russia, Canada, ty, and promoting sustainable local sign an agreement to protect and China and beyond. WWF aims to and regional development. sustainably manage over seven per see another 75 million hectares of cent of the Congo Basin, the second the world's most outstanding forests The people angle largest area of tropical forest in the brought under protection by 2010. Hundreds of indigenous communi- world after the Amazon. These ties living in the Amazon account for forests are home to more than half of Succeeding with partners the region's rich, cultural diversity. the continent's animal species, inclu- With such a timeline just several Protecting forest areas helps these ding most of the forest elephants left years away, the only way to accom- communities protect their land and in Africa and the entire world's popu- plish these ambitious - but achie- culture from external threats and lation of lowland gorillas. They also vable - goals is through creative development, and in some areas, provide food, materials, and shelter partnerships. allows them access to the forests to to some 20 million people. The single most ambitious partner- sustainably harvest such important The conservation and sustainable ship to date is the Amazon Region commodities as Brazilian nuts. It is management of forests and the spe- Protected Areas initiative, led by the critical for local and indigenous cies that live in them are critical for Brazilian government in collabora- groups to be part of the conservation the survival of local, rural and indige- tion with the World Bank, Global process. Without them, biodiversity nous communities in the developing Environment Facility, the German would surely be lost. world, many of whom are poor and Development Bank (KfW), WWF and This large-scale conservation vision have been marginalized by poorly together with local communities.