Congo Basin Blue Fund Comes Into Focus
The Congo Basin forests are second only to the Amazon Basin as a natural carbon storage system. But for countries in the basin to make the transition from forest exploitation to ecosystem services will require both cooperation and capital.
The Brazzaville Foundation is pushing forward with the nine-country Congo Basin Blue Fund introduced at the global climate conference last year.
Meeting in Oyo last week, ministers from Morocco, Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo and Rwanda signed an MOU to officially form the new fund.
The fund will finance projects in river transport, dredging and infrastructure, renewable energy, irrigation, fishing and ecotourism to foster sustainable industries based on the Congo’s renewable resources.
Next step: raising capital from climate-change financing facilities, international agencies, private investors and philanthropies.
