Green Financing for reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+)

Did you know that Gabon became the first African country to get paid for protecting its forests?

In 2021, Gabon received the first $17 million of a pledged $150 million from Norway for reducing emissions through forest protection in a deal brokered by the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI). The payment, according to CAFI, was based on independently verified evidence of reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in 2016 and 2017.

Gabon

Gabon is part of the Congo Basin. It has an 88% tropical rainforest cover. It is home to the endangered African forest elephants and one of the few places left in the world where forest elephants can roam all the way from the forest to the sea and be found wandering along the beach. It also hosts several natural parks.

Oil has been the foundation of Gabon’s economy, accounting for 80% of exports and 45% of the GDP between 2010 and 2015. However, oil reserves are now running low, and with oil prices unstable, Gabon’s government is looking for new ways to power its economy. Due to its low population (of about 2 million) and high urbanization supported by oil revenue, the human impact on its forests is limited. Furthermore, with limited agricultural land available, the country looks to generate more income from its forests as well as preserve them.

Gabon has shown commitment to conserving its forests over the years despite the logging and overhunting of large expanses of the tropical forest. The country’s deforestation rate annually is less than 0.1% and the intention to develop its economy without sacrificing its forests (a low carbon pathway) by building a sustainable forest economy supported by schemes such as CAFI is clear. Such schemes would allow Gabon to implement a Low Emission Development Strategy, which is one positive fight against the climate crisis.

Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI)

CAFI was founded in 2015 at the United Nations General Assembly. It was a collaborative agreement between six central African countries and six financial partners. The African countries are:

• The Central African Republic
• The Democratic Republic of Congo
• The Republic of Congo
• Gabon
• Equatorial Guinea
• Cameroon

The six financial partners are:

• The European Union
• France
• Norway
• Germany
• South Korea
• The Netherlands

It is based around the REDD+ mechanism of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC); that developing nations should be able to financially benefit from the ecosystem services that their forests provide, such as carbon storage and as reservoirs of biodiversity.

CAFI aims at supporting central African countries with high forest cover to implement the Paris Agreement on climate change, fight poverty and fulfill the post-2020 biodiversity framework. They fund projects to deliver concrete results across all sectors affecting forests that would help partner countries pursue their climate, biodiversity and development goals. Their support also ranges from the adoption of transformational policies, better monitoring of forests and land use, to helping local communities on the ground to organize, measure, plan and manage their natural resources. Simply put, it promotes financing for sustainable forest management.

The payment for forest protection in Gabon is a positive development. Africa’s forests are important to fighting climate change. Their protection from threats and possible depletion due to economic reasons is crucial.

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