AFRICAN
CONSERVATION AND WEB SITES FOR AFRICA FROM
AFRICANWEBSITES.NET
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The
Congo Basin
Forest Partnership (CBFP) is an association of 29 governmental and
nongovernmental organizations that works to improve
communication and coordination among its member organizations vis-à-vis
their projects, programs, and policies to promote sustainable management
of Congo Basin Forest ecosystems and wildlife and improve the lives of people
living in the region. CBFP does not itself implement or fund programs and
it has no
secretariat or staff. Instead, it provides a service to
donors and implementing agencies working in the region by operating as an
information clearinghouse, a mechanism for promoting coordination of programs
across multiple donors and implementing agencies, and a forum for dialogue.
CBFP aims to increase awareness of the programs being funded and implemented
by its member organizations, enhance the efficiency of these programs and
relevant coordination processes, and identify and eliminate gaps and overlaps
in programs and funding. In so doing, the Partnership hopes to encourage
potential donors to engage in the Congo Basin region and the crucial work
of protecting its globally important endowments of wildlife and biological
diversity, ensuring good governance, and raising the living standards of
its people.
Central Africa is home
to the second largest area of tropical forest on
earth after that of the Amazon. The riches of
its unparalleled biodiversity remain largely unexplored. The forest is a
vital resource for the people who live in and around it; exploited rationally,
it can be a real vector for development. But it is also an ensemble whose
stability depends on the multitude of inter—relationships between plants
and animals. Loss of the latter impoverishes the forest and impairs its capacity
to regenerate. The
ECOFAC
programme combines two basic and complementary principles: conservation
and development. It is a tangible expression of the European Union's commitment
to the protection and rational utilization of Central Africa's
forest ecosystems. It also fully involves the
forest dwelling people in its activities. The six countries covered by the
programme - Congo, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea,
Gabon and Sao Tome and Principe - have a combined population of 20 million,
which is growing by 3.2% yearly. Tropical rainforest stretches over about
670,000 km2 of these countries' territory but this area is dwindling at a
rate of almost 1% a year. Email
ECOFAC.
The bushmeat crisis is
the most significant immediate threat to the future of wildlife populations
in Africa. Hunting of wildlife to meet people’s
demand for protein may still be sustainable in
the few remaining areas where population densities are less than 2 people/km2,
trade routes are poorly established, and human population growth rates are
low. The scale of the illegal, commercial bushmeat trade now occurring in
Africa, however, is driven by markets with large, rapidly-growing populations
of consumers and is considered by experts to be unsustainable. This
commercial-scale trade threatens the survival of numerous species as well
as posing considerable health and economic threats for future generations.
The Bushmeat Crisis
Task Force (BCTF), founded in 1999, is a consortium of conservation
organizations and professionals working throughout Africa and dedicated to
the conservation
of wildlife populations threatened by illegal,
commercial hunting of wildlife for sale as meat. The BCTF operates under
the direction of an elected Steering Committee and is funded by Supporting
and Contributing Members. BCTF's primary goals are to: a) work with the general
members of the BCTF to focus attention on the bushmeat crisis in Africa;
b) establish an information database and mechanisms for information sharing
regarding the bushmeat issue; c) facilitate engagement of African partners
and stakeholders in addressing the bushmeat issue; and d) promote collaborative
decision-making, fund-raising and actions among the members and associates
of the BCTF. For more information about the BCTF and the bushmeat issue,
please visit their
website or email them
directly.
The Bushmeat Project has been established to develop
and support community based partnerships that will
hel
p the people of various African countries, to
develop alternatives to unsustainable bushmeat commerce. The programme is
a long-term effort to provide economic and social incentive to people to
protect great apes and other endangered wildlife. Some of the largest wildlife
and animal welfare organizations in North America have joined them in agreement
that the Bushmeat Crisis is a top priority concern and that it is time to
act. Some of the largest wildlife and animal welfare organizations in North
America have joined them in agreement that the Bushmeat Crisis is a top priority
concern and that it is time to act. To learn more about this effort
check the website
or email to hq@biosynergy.org. Donations
will be used to help turn poachers to protectors, educate people about the
intrinsic values of wildlife, and to create new protected areas in which
apes will be safe for people to study and observe.
For more
information on Central African Republic, click here.
If you would like to
contact us please email
terry@africanconservation.org
