Natur’Africa program on the agenda of the ECCAS-EU technical meeting

Libreville(Gabon), June 13, 2023– The President of the Commission of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), His Excellency Gilberto Da Piedade Verissimo, received in audience the members of the European Union Delegation (DUE) led by Her Excellency Madame Rosario Bento Pais European Union ambassador to Gabon, Sao Tomé & Principe and ECCAS.

The President of the ECCAS Commission was accompanied by Dr Honoré TABUNA, Commissioner for the Environment, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Rural Development of the ECCAS Commission, the Director of Cabinet ai, Mr Emelgide Nyonzima, and the Planning and Programs Advisor, Mr Pascal Moussavou Mbina.

On the agenda was Natur’Africa, the successor program to ECOFAC 6, the final phase of the ECOFAC program, which celebrated its 30th anniversary in June 2022.

 

Natur’Africa is interested in the issues of biodiversity and transhumance, which are included in the activities of the environmental integration, agriculture and rural development axis of the ECCAS Commission’s Medium-Term Indicative Strategic Plan 2021-2025, hence the importance for ECCAS of discussing these issues with traditional partners.

However, there are still a number of grey areas, including the institutional set-up, the choice of operators and governance, the role of States, the role of the ECCAS Commission, the role of specialized institutions and implementing agencies, as well as the national structures that States feel should be given priority, to name but a few.

For the ECCAS Commission, the treatment of the Natur africa issue must be based on the recommendations of the Steering Committee approved by community bodies, notably the Specialized Technical Committee on Environment/Forestry and the statutory bodies of the XXIst session of the Conference of Heads of State and Government of ECCAS, whose meetings were held in Kinshasa in July 2022.

The Natur’Africa program is based on two components: the Congo Basin and the transhumance landscape. Its budget is 66,000,000 euros, or 43,230,000,000 FCA.

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