From 26 to 28 October 2023, Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of Congo, will host the first Summit of the world's three major tropical forest basins: Congo, Amazonia and Borneo-Mekong. To ensure that this global meeting does not end with mere declarations, civil society is calling for action. The areas in which participants in this summit are being called upon to act are set out in a petition that civil society players are continuing to sign online.
Civil society is expressing its expectations of the first Summit of the world’s three major tropical forest basins, scheduled for 26-28 October 2023 at the Kintélé International Conference Centre on the outskirts of Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of Congo. For this global meeting on the preservation of the three regions of the planet that are home to 80% of the world’s green lungs and three-quarters of the world’s biodiversity, nature conservationists are calling for strong and significant action.
The Eboko Foundation, a Congolese organisation committed to the United Nations’ Agenda 2030 for sustainable development, has just posted an online call for action during the Three Basins Summit. It sets out the five priority areas on which participants at the summit are being asked to take action. First and foremost is the conservation and restoration of biodiversity in the Congo Basin in Central Africa, the Amazon Basin in South America and the Mekong Basin in South-East Asia.
“We call on national governments and international partners to strengthen conservation measures in the basins. This requires several key actions: firstly, improving the management system and governance of protected areas in existing basins, by revising strategic or action plans and harmonising national texts. Secondly, the creation and expansion of cross-border protected areas to promote ecological connectivity between habitats and allow species to move freely. Thirdly, the training and capacity-building of environmental legal actors, as well as natural and artificial guardians of protected areas”, explains the manifesto, which is open for signature online by civil society actors.
Promoting the know-how of forest peoples
The call for action stresses the urgent need for collective action to preserve the Congo, Amazon and Mekong basins. The four remaining priorities focus on strengthening international cooperation, mobilising the necessary resources, involving civil society and promoting the traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples.
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For the initiators of the appeal, who will be making their voices heard throughout the Brazzaville Summit, harnessing the traditional knowledge of the first communities is fundamental to the sustainable management of natural resources. Their in-depth knowledge of these ecosystems, passed down from generation to generation, offers invaluable tools for the effective preservation of biodiversity and the promotion of a sustainable future
Boris Ngounou
