WWF priorities in the Green Heart of Africa

/ ©: WWF-Canon / Martin HARVEY
Tropical Rainforest. Western Congo Basin.
© WWF-Canon / Martin HARVEY

Landscape management

We can’t work everywhere. To make sure we don’t spread our resources too thin, we focus on priority landscapes chosen under the Congo Basin Forest Partnership.

WWF plays a leading role in 7 of these landscapes. There, we advise on land use planning, support improved natural resources governance efforts, build management capacity and push for suitable monitoring systems.

Protected areas

WWF is contributing to the establishment of a network of protected areas, improving management of existing ones and assessing their effectiveness using proven monitoring and evaluation tools.

But these activities are costly. To make sure that the constantly rising management costs of protected areas are met, we develop sustainable financing mechanisms with partners.
/ ©: WWF-Canon / A. della Bella
Pallisco, Decolvenaere, and Transormation Reef Cameroon together export an annual total of 120,000 cubic metres of sawn timber to Europe, making up about 20% of EU imports from Cameroon.
© WWF-Canon / A. della Bella

Responsible forestry

 Outside protected areas, forests can still be responsibly managed and provide for people’s financial needs. One of the ways to achieve this is to promote responsible forest management practices through credible wood certification processes.

Many logging companies have signed partnerships with WWF for technical assistance to set up sustainable forest management practices and wood certification. In 2005, we celebrated the first concession to obtain Forest Stewardship Council certification in the Congo River Basin.

Improved forest governance

In the Congo River Basin, many of the countries WWF works in are poor and debt-ridden. Natural resources such as gold, timber and diamonds may abound, but the state coffers are often empty.

Strained budgets and limited capacity do not work for the benefit of forests. So our advocacy work pushes for improved national planning, forest-friendly regulations and laws that recognize and benefit forest peoples.

Many milestones have been achieved in the region including ongoing support to the Yaoundé Process to improve forest governance.

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Photos and graphics © WWF or used with permission. Text available under a Creative Commons licence.