Macron in Gabon calls for funds and action to save world’s forests

Libreville —  France will commit €50m to a global scheme to reward countries for protecting their forests and biodiversity, President Emmanuel Macron said at a summit in Gabon on Thursday.

The pledge was announced at the end of the two-day One Forest Summit that aimed to assess progress made since last year’s COP27 climate conference and renew targets for the preservation and sustainable management of the world’s forests.

“We need to have cash on the table and concrete actions,” Macron said in a speech on the first full day of a four-nation Africa tour.

France’s commitment is part of a joint €100m contribution to kick-start a mechanism that would reward countries that are scientifically proven to have protected their forests or restored them. Who pays for the rest of the initiative remains unclear. 

Presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil and Félix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), countries with major tropical forests, did not attend the One Forest Summit.

Gabonese leader Ali Bongo Ondimba hoped the gathering would at least promote solidarity as some countries insist that protecting forests needs to be profitable. The summit in Gabon  follows disagreements over funds for protecting forests at the UN’s biodiversity summit in Montreal last December, reports say.

How Central African countries like Gabon manage their share of the world’s second-largest rainforest is critical. The so-called lungs of Africa store more carbon per hectare than the Amazon, help regulate temperatures and generate rain for millions in the arid Sahel and distant Ethiopian highlands.

Earlier, Macron said France harboured no desire to return to past policies of interfering in Africa.

“The age of Francafrique is well over,” Macron said in remarks to the French community in Libreville, referring to France’s post-colonisation strategy of supporting authoritarian leaders to defend its interests.

“Sometimes, I get the feeling that mindsets haven’t moved along as much as we have, when I read, hear and see people ascribing intentions to France that it doesn’t have,” he added.

Macron will also visit Angola, Congo Republic and the DRC. His trip to these countries is focused away from France’s troubled former colonies in West Africa’s Sahel region where anti-French sentiment is rising.

Spiralling insecurity there has spurred military takeovers in Mali and Burkina Faso, two hotbeds of jihadist activity, whose ruling juntas have butted heads with France, as well as with other regional and Western allies.

Macron announced the withdrawal of French troops from Mali a year ago after its junta began working with Russian mercenaries, while Burkina Faso last month ended a military deal with France.

In a speech on Monday, Macron proposed a fresh approach, promising that French military bases in Africa would be co-run with host nations with fewer French troops on the ground.

He also said this week’s Africa tour would not be political and his schedule suggests a focus on the environment, culture and scientific research.  With Staff Writer

Reuters