The Cameroon government, acting through the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife, has expressed its determination to ensure the full implementation of the Yaounde Declaration of 1999 following the first ever summit on forest ecosystem. Forestry and Wildlife Minister, Elvis Ngolle Ngolle, made the declaration yesterday in Yaoundé while signing an agreement with the Sangha Tri-National Foundation for the better management of the Sangha Tri-national trans-boundary forest complex.

The TNS is a trans-boundary conservation area where three countries, Cameroon, Central African Republic and Congo Brazzaville committed themselves to jointly manage the contiguous National parks of Lobeke in Cameroon, Dzanga-Ndoki in Central African Republic and Nouabale-Ndoki in Congo.

According to the Board Chairman of the foundation, Laurent Magloire Some, about 30 million Euros (about CFA 20 billion) will be needed to effectively and in a sustainable manner manage the forest. Speaking at the signing ceremony organised at the Yaoundé Mvog-Betsi zoo yesterday, he hailed the German financial bodies, notably the German Bank for Reconstruction "KFW" for announcing its intension to disburse five million Euros to support the creation of a fund for the project. The same appreciation went to the French Development Agency which has announced it will be coughing out three million Euros fore the fund. Already, KFW has paid in 500,000 Euros to enable the project takes off.

The Sangha Trans-Boundary Park has its management specificities in that the fund to be created will not be consumed directly in such a manner as to completely empty the coffers of the project. "The 30 billion Euros to be developed as capital will be used in generating interest which will be used in financing the activities of the park", Some told pressmen. These activities, he said, are basically those carried at the surrounding zones of the park. "We are going to look for the best investment strategy to make sure that we get the maximum benefit from any amount invested", he said.

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