Gordon Brown launches fund to save Congo rainforest with £58 million from UK

17 June 2008

Press Release

A new satellite monitoring system to help the inhabitants of the Congo rainforest protect their environment was among the initiatives announced today by Gordon Brown and Douglas Alexander as they launched the Congo Basin Forest Fund.

From today projects can bid for money to tackle climate change by preventing deforestation in the world’s second largest tropical forest.

The UK pledged an additional £8 million to boost the £50 million grant already available for innovative schemes to prevent deforestation in Central Africa. The Norwegian Government also pledged another £50 million for the Fund. It is expected that governments, the business community and other donors will also contribute to the international fund.

This includes funding a state-of-the-art system to give the first detailed bird’s eye view of the rate of deforestation in the Congo through British-made high resolution cameras placed on a satellite. The pictures will be beamed direct to Central Africa. At the same time the UK will be working with local people to help them map their own parts of the rainforest. Linking the latest technology with forest communities in this way will allow people to better look after the rainforest.

Gordon Brown said:

"It is a great honour to mark the launch of the Congo Basin Forest Fund. Together we are pledging to work together to secure the future of one of the world’s last remaining ancient forests. Preserving our forests is vital if we are going to reduce global emissions and tackle climate change.

"I look forward to working with leaders and groups, in the Congo region and from around the world, to preserve these forests and sustain people’s livelihoods."

Jens Stoltenberg, the Prime Minister of Norway, said:

"Climate change is one of the defining challenges of our time. The global community will have to find ways to reduce total emissions dramatically over a short time span. Reducing deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries is a main priority for Norway’s climate policy, alongside investing in new technologies such as carbon capture and storage.

"We believe that The Congo Basin Forest Fund is a good example of a mechanism by which developed countries can help shoulder the financial burden of developing countries making significant emissions reductions. Therefore, Norway is pledging £50 million to limiting emissions from deforestation in the Congo Basin."

Douglas Alexander, the Secretary of State for International Development, said:

"Avoiding deforestation is crucial in the fight against climate change. As the world's second largest rainforest, the Congo Basin must be at the heart of our response. The Basin houses a quarter of the world's rainforest, but already an area the size of 25,000 football pitches is cleared of trees every week.

"Protecting the rainforest will help us all in the fight against climate change and also the 50 million people who rely on the Congo Forests for their livelihoods."

Douglas Alexander joined Nobel Peace Prize Winner Wangari Maathai to call on other governments and the business community to make further contributions to the fund.

Wangari Maathai said:

"The Congo Basin Forest Fund is a joint response to a global problem whereby an innovative and consensual mechanism has been embraced. It involves various partners committed to preserve and protect one of the most unique ecosystems in the world, the Congo Basin rainforest. Thanks to the vision of Heads of State of Central Africa and the leadership of the UK Government, which is the first country to commit funds, the dream of the Congo Basin fund has become a reality."

Prof. Maathai will chair the new fund alongside Paul Martin, former Prime Minister of Canada.

Paul Martin said:

"The Congo Basin Forest Fund is an important step in helping to meet the urgent need to protect the second largest rainforest in the world. I look forward to the work that lies ahead and I hope that other caring nations will come forward to participate in the fund."

The fund will support Cameroon, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and the Republic of Congo to protect their rainforests.

Projects eligible for funding will need to demonstrate that they can prevent illegal activities or involve local communities in monitoring and protecting the forest. Helping local communities find new income opportunities, securing the rights of local communities to use and benefit from the rainforest and introducing practices for sustainable harvesting of trees, other plants and wildlife are key priorities.

Notes to editors

The Congo Basin Forest Fund was launched today (17 June) at Lancaster House in London. Professor Maathai and Paul Martin will jointly chair the group which will run the fund. The funds will be managed and disbursed by a Secretariat based at the African Development Bank.
The high definition camera will be made by the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory based in Oxfordshire. It is expected to be sent into space by the end of 2010 and will be in a low-earth, sun-synchronous orbit of 650 km altitude. The camera will have an all refractive optical design and use radiation tolerant glasses. Applications for the camera include agricultural surveillance, forestry, habitat, and coastal monitoring, surveillance of environmental change and offshore pollution, disaster monitoring and cartography in remote areas.
The Congo Basin Fund is part of the £800 million Environmental Transformation Fund announced by the Chancellor last year. The ETF will fund schemes to help poorer countries cope with the adverse affects of climate change, develop clean technologies and reduce deforestation. It is intended to bridge the international climate change funding gap between now and 2012 when a post-Kyoto treaty will come into place.
The Congo rainforest is the second largest in the world after the Amazon and covers an area twice the size of France. It is the second largest tropical forest in the world containing 26% of the world’s remaining rainforest. It has been described by some people as "the world's second lung" – a UN study found that if action is not taken immediately to tackle deforestation then more than 66% of the rainforest will be lost by 2040.
The UN’s Food & Agriculture Organisation estimates that every year 3,600 square miles (equivalent to 1.3 million football pitches or an area roughly one third the size of Belgium) has been cut down in the Congo Basin rainforest.
It is home to more than 50 million people, 10,000 species of plants, 1,000 species of birds and 400 species of mammals.
The Stern Review (2007) estimates that deforestation is responsible for 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions and continuing present rates of deforestation will drive up carbon emissions and could worsen climate change.
Groups wishing to apply for funding from the Congo Basin Forest Fund should contact cbfSecretariat@dfid.gov.uk or Congo Basin Forest Fund (CBFF) Team, 1 Palace Street, London SW1E 5HE in the first instance.

For further information contact Yasser Mehmood in the DFID press office on 020 7023 1753 or e-mail y-mehmood@dfid.gov.uk

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