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The Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP) is a United States-led
initiative to promote the conservation and responsible
management of the Basin's tropical forests. The United States
will help achieve these goals by partnering with other
countries, non-governmental and international organizations, and
local communities. These partnerships will help to support a
network of national parks and protected areas, well-managed
forestry concessions, and creation of economic opportunities for
communities that depend upon the forest and wildlife resources
of the Congo Basin. CBFP actions focus on eleven ecologically
sensitive and biologically diverse areas and wildlife corridors
- called forest landscapes - that are considered the most
vulnerable to deforestation and other threats. The effort aims
to protect these eleven priority areas in six countries --
Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of
Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and the Republic of Congo.
United States Secretary of State Powell launched the CBFP
at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg
on September 4, 2002. He traveled to Gabon the next day for the
inauguration of Gabon’s national park system.
Conservation International, the Wildlife Conservation Society
and the World Wildlife Fund are collaborating and
joining the efforts in the Congo Basin. The three groups worked
closely with the governments, organizations and local
communities involved to set priorities for protecting the most
important landscapes in the region.
The Congo Basin is home to some of the most charismatic
biodiversity in the world, ranging from forest elephants, bongos
and chimpanzees to forest buffalos and lowland gorillas. The
bonobo, or pygmy chimpanzee, is also found in this region, where
it is restricted to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Biodiversity in the Basin faces serious threats, most notably
logging and bushmeat hunting. Logging feeds the bushmeat trade
as roads built to gain access to forestlands become access
routes for hunters. The widespread slaughter of wild animals in
the Congo Basin creates "empty forests," which diminish
opportunities for local communities and threaten the forests'
long-term viability. The
development of legislation to authorize the CBFP in 2003 led to
the founding of the International Conservation Caucus.
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