Brazzaville hosted a summit dedicated to the world’s three largest tropical forest areas
Seeking to conserve and restore the great tropical forests of the Amazon, Congo, and Borneo-Mekong Basins, the ‘Three Basins Summit’ was hosted by Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of the Congo, between October 26 and October 28, to create a global coalition.
The summit had two main objectives: to build a global coalition to speed up the transition to clean energy, and to strengthen collaboration between these basins, which are considered the world’s ‘ecological lungs’.
A seven-point plan to protect tropical forests was announced by the participating countries. Various financing mechanisms were explored by the heads of intergovernmental organizations to help developing countries conserve their vital ecosystems.
The participants emphasized the importance that tropical forests play in fighting back against global climate change.
“We have realized that joining forces is an absolute necessity, and we have recognized that the initiative to unite the three basins is part of an inevitable dynamic,” Republic of the Congo Environment Minister Arlette Soudan Nonault claimed.
The World Wildlife Fund pointed out that it’s essential to engage in more efforts to cement and enhance collaboration between the three regions in order to foster real action to halt deforestation.
According to the WWF director for the Congo Basin, Dr. Martin Kabaluapa Kapinga, the leaders of the Three Basins have to “use this renewed momentum to foster concrete action to restore forests, bolster scientific and technical cooperation, stop and reverse biodiversity loss and adopt measures to address the climate crisis.”
The Republic of the Congo signed a roadmap for partnership with the EU in forestry during the summit. The objective is to expand the area of protected, rehabilitated, or sustainably managed forests by 2030, generate more jobs in the industry, and decrease forest loss.
These basins are responsible for approximately three-quarters of all global biodiversity and 80% of the world’s forest cover.
Over 3,000 participants, including government representatives, international organizations, NGOs, researchers, scientists and others, took part in this event.
Among the African leaders present were the leaders of the DR Congo, Kenya, Sao Tome and Principe, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Burundi, Ghana, Comoros, the Central African Republic and Gabon. The Ministers of Foreign Affairs from Colombia and Venezuela were also present.
The initiative was applauded by French President Emmanuel Macron, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and former Brazilian President Lula via video conference.
The journey to Brazzaville was made by none of the heads of state from the Amazon Basin or Borneo.
The ‘Three Basins Summit’ was held on the eve of COP28, which is scheduled to take place in November in the United Arab Emirates.
