CONGO: Towards a national framework for the implementation of the green economy

20 04 2023 | 14:09Boris Ngounou / AFRIC21

The Republic of Congo will soon have a harmonised framework for the implementation of the green economy. Actors from various backgrounds were consulted to this effect on 31 March 2023 in Brazzaville. The workshop, co-organised by the Congolese Ministry of Forest Economy and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), was held within the framework of the Regional Programme for the Environment in Central Africa (CARPE).

The Republic of Congo has abundant natural resources and rich biodiversity. To reconcile economic requirements with ecological imperatives, the Central African country is opting to set up a harmonised framework for the development of the green economy. For the record, this type of economy includes two types of activities. Traditional activities carried out with less polluting or less energy-consuming processes, and eco-activities, whose purpose is to protect the environment or manage natural resources.

To this end, the Congolese government, through its Ministry of Forest Economy, organised a consultation workshop on 31 March 2023 in Brazzaville. The aim was to identify the best way to put in place a harmonised, multi-stakeholder and multi-scale national framework to support the development and implementation of green economy strategies and best practices.

Support from USAID

The Brazzaville workshop was part of the Conservation through Economic Empowerment in the Republic of Congo (CEERC) project, which helps communities in wildlife and forest-rich areas to seize economic opportunities, obtain a level playing field and increase the value of their products in order to reap the full economic and social benefits.

This project is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), as part of its participation in the Central African Regional Environment Programme (CARPE).

Read also-CONGO: $25 million U.S. investment in country’s green economy

In June 2022, in the context of this cooperation in the field of the green economy, USAID released an envelope of 28 million dollars (about 17 billion CFA francs) for the Congo. Allocated under the Sustainable Development Goal Grant Agreement (SDGGA) between Congo and the United States of America, the funds support conservation, biodiversity, sustainable management of forest resources and the development of entrepreneurship in the green economy sector.

 

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