This is one of the outcomes of the World Congress of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) held from 3 to 11 September 2021. Gabon and France presented the project to create a business forum for the establishment of sustainable value chains in Africa. The initiative aims to involve the private sector in the sustainable management of forests in Africa.
On September 6th, 2021 in Marseille (France), Gabon and France took the opportunity of the World Congress of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to present a new initiative aimed at the conservation of forest ecosystems in Africa. “A business forum for the establishment of sustainable value chains in Africa”. “To fight deforestation, we need to produce and consume sustainably. With Gabon, I am proud to launch an initiative for the creation of a forum for sustainable value chains in Africa…” said Jean-Yves Le Drian, the French Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs.
This business forum on sustainable value chains in Africa will be launched next November in Glasgow (Scotland), during the Cop 26 climate conference. It intends to mobilise representatives of the private sector, French economic actors selected from the National Tropical Forest Group (GNFT), French Foreign Trade Advisors, interested members of the Africa Business Forum of the Choiseul Institute, as well as delegates from member countries of the Alliance for the Preservation of Tropical Forests (APFTH), launched in early 2020 at the One Planet Summit.
Contributing to the achievement of the objectives of the Paris Agreement
The business forum announced by Gabon and France follows the APFTH charter, to which both countries are signatories. One of the core objectives of the APFTH states that “responsible sourcing and the establishment of sustainable low-carbon value chains are essential to prevent illegal logging, forest fires and other drivers of deforestation and forest degradation, and to achieve the goal of a circular economy. Considering also that the implementation of these objectives requires partnership approaches between tropical forest countries, partner countries and other stakeholders, including responsible public and private procurement and sustainable production and consumption patterns.
Thus for Gabon and France, the main objective of the business forum for the establishment of sustainable value chains in Africa is to lay the groundwork for the operationalization of the APFTH as an instrument for the implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Global Framework for Biodiversity post-2020.
Boris Ngounou
