14 Mar 2007 - Douala,
Cameroon A newly created environmental
trust fund will contribute to biodiversity
conservation in the Congo basin.
Cameroon, the Central Africa Republic and
the Republic of Congo have established a
foundation to strengthen the long-term financing
of conservation activities in the Sangha
tri-national forest complex (known by its
French acronym, TNS), which spans the three
central African nations.
The TNS is located in the north-western
Congolian lowland forest ecoregion and covers
a total surface area of some 28,000km2,
including the three contiguous national
parks of Lobeke in Cameroon, Dzanga-Ndoki
in Central Africa Republic and Nouabale-Ndoki
in Congo, and their buffer zones.
The region is home to significant populations
of forest elephants, lowland gorillas, chimpanzees
and bongos.
The foundation has already mobilized more
than 11 million to help manage the three
parks and fund transboundary conservation
activities.
The creation of the foundation is a key
element in the sustainable financing of
conservation and the management of biodiversity
in Central Africa, said Dr Claude Martine,
former Director General of WWF International
and a founding member of the foundation.
Here we have a true model of an innovative
mechanism for other initiatives in the sub-region.
The Sangha Tri-National complex is one
of the first transboundary protected areas
created as a follow up to the Yaoundé
Summits of 1999 and 2005.
END NOTES:
WWF, together with the Wildlife Conservation
Society, German Corporation for Technical
Assistance (GTZ), French Development Agency
(AFD) and the CARPE Programme contributed
to the establishment of the Sangha Tri-National
(TNS) Foundation, with financial support
from Krombacher Regenwald Kampagne, the
Saccharuna Foundation, USAID and the WWF/World
Bank Alliance for the conservation and sustainable
use of forests.
The foundation has been established as
a private entity under British law with
its executive headquarters in the Central
African Region. It is managed by a Board
of Directors, consisting of 11 members who
are representatives of the governments of
Cameroon, Republic of Congo, Central Africa
Republic, as well as WWF, the Wildlife Conservation
Society, KfW, AFD (observer) and civil society.
The Board of Directors held their first
meeting in Douala, Cameroon, on 10 March
2007.
Laurent Somé, Regional Director
WWF Central Africa Regional Programme Office
