CP-Congo workshop

The event was placed under the authority of Ms Rosalie Matondo, Minister of Forest Economy, in collaboration with Ms Delphine Edith Emmanuel, Minister of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Technological Innovation. OFVi was responsible for operational coordination, with the involvement of national higher education and research bodies in fields related to carbon and biodiversity monitoring in forests and wetlands, at various scales, as well as the French Embassy and the Permanent Secretary of the PFNC-Congo (Signed declaration in December 2023).

This event was held just after the International Conference on Afforestation and Reforestation (CIAR) organised in the Congolese capital from 2 to 5 July 2024. It brought together around fifty Congolese and French scientists and a wide range of stakeholders: universities, agencies, centres, institutes, private companies and NGOs. The workshop report is available (link to the report).

The following activities were carried out during the workshop:

• To present the functioning of the CPs and the expectations in terms of research and capacity development in the Congo, in line with the existing approaches of regional coordination of national research institutions, such as R2FAC or, more recently, CBSI.
• Define a 5-year programme of scientific activities that contribute jointly to the priority points of the scientific component of the CP-Congo and the pillars of OFVi.
• Identify the needs in terms of human resources, infrastructure and equipment required to implement the actions of the CP-Congo.
• To define together the intervention targets in Congo for OFVi in order to meet the scientific information needs of the CP-Congo and regional events.
• To programme the financial components for the scientific research and capacity building required to implement the PFNC-Congo.
• To draw up the OFVi roadmap within the more general framework of the CP-Congo.

This workshop enabled Congolese and French scientists to initiate their future collaboration for the CNFP-Congo, for which research and capacity building are two cross-cutting issues.