Biodiversity protection and preservation

The 5th report of the series covers the performance of Conservation Trust Funds during the calendar year of 2011 and relies on information provided by 31 Funds in Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia about endowments, sinking funds and revolving funds.

Why is the protection of tropical forests important?
First of all, about one third of all French forests are in the tropics, in overseas France. Secondly, France imports large quantities of tropical timber. Thirdly, tropical forests are a global public good because they contribute to climate stabilisation, biodiversity conservation, food security and public health. Finally, tropical forests offer vast potential for the development of a green and inclusive economy, for poverty reduction and for the preservation of traditional lifestyles in the countries partnering cooperation for development.

What progress has been made towards tropical forest protection?
Management planning and certification are making progress in the largest tropical forest areas, although much still needs to be done to advance sustainable management. Deforestation, although it has slowed since the 1990s and is partly compensated by reforestation, is continuing at a rate of some 13 million hectares each year, according to the latest report from the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

The Climate Convention recently established the REDD+ mechanism to encourage and contribute to financing for action to control deforestation. In 2010, the Paris Conference on the world’s major forest basins raised more than 4 billion US$ in start-up funds for REDD+. The Nagoya Conference on biodiversity set out the Aichi Objectives for 2020. The European Union has adopted a Timber Regulation to prevent imports of illegally felled timber and is negotiating partnership agreements with about a dozen tropical forest countries.
 

After describing the current status of the Congo Basin and the issues that arise, the brochure presents the main results achieved, the lessons learned from the thirteen projects supported by the FGEF from 1997 to 2010, and their limitations. Observations are drawn from these findings in the field as regards the FGEF’s approach, along with recommendations to improve its effectiveness.

The collection

The "Capitalising on experience" series presents the FGEF’s strategic approach in different topic areas, through brief descriptions of the pilot activities and field operations conducted with its partners. This collection documents the capitalisation of experience in which the FGEF has acted as a partner for environmental preservation and sustainable management.