Regional Programmes: Africa

Africa’s forests are among the world's most important forests - not only for their rich diversity of plant and animal life, but also for the livelihoods they provide for indigenous people and the income they generate from timber exports. But in places such as the Congo Basin, second in size only to the Amazon, 1.5 million hectares of forest cover are lost each year.

A regional response for forest protection
WWF is working towards the establishment of new protected areas and improved management of existing ones in the region. Advocacy, lobbying and working with various partners on the ground have led to new protected areas. Madagascar has tripled its protected area coverage, adding a further 5 million hectare, and placing more than two-thirds of the country’s remaining forest under formal protection.

Major contributions for new protected areas
Following the precedent setting Yaoundé Summit organised by WWF in 1999, a total of 4.5 million hectares of new forest protected areas have been created in Cameroon, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. Complementing existing protected areas in the sub-region, these new protected areas have tripled the size of protected areas in the Congo Basin.

At the follow-up Second Heads of State Forest Summit in February 2005, Presidents from Central Africa signed an agreement to further protect 14.6 million hectares of forests including Dja, Odzala and Minkebe National Parks, the equivalent of 7.5% of the entire Congo Basin.

Additionally, in Cameroon, Gabon and Madagascar, WWF is helping with the assessment of forest protected areas using the RAPPAM (Rapid Assessment and Prioritization of Protected Areas Management) methodology and the WCPA (World Commission on Protected Areas) framework.

Paving the way for political commitments
WWF is also carrying out gap and threat analysis in the Western Congo Basin Moist Forests, Madagascar Spiny Forests and other priority forest ecoregions. These analyses are the first step in developing and adopting plans and strategies, and as such have led to important partnerships, political commitments, and paved the way for significant conservation funding.

A key ingredient in the success of forest conservation is people. So building the capacity of local forest practitioners is a priority. In Ghana, for example, WWF organised training on the identification and mapping of High Conservation Value Forests (HCVFs).

Sound forest management
WWF is also pushing for stronger responsible forestry practices in Africa through the Producers Group Network in West and Central Africa, and the development of partnerships with logging companies.

Already, over 1 million hectares of forests have been certified in Southern Africa. At the community level, WWF is involved with the testing of Madagascar's national standards in community managed forests and with the attribution of community forests in Cameroon and other countries.

Restoring degraded forests
As well, forest conservation in Africa also includes restoration. The main restoration efforts are in the East African Coastal Forests and Madagascar where WWF works with both local and international partners to further the Forest Landscape Restoration approach.