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.