Congo Basin Forest Protection Conference Collapses For Lack Of Money - AFP

[hatrack]

Brazzaville - "Central African countries and international donors failed at the weekend to agree how to finance an ambitious plan to manage the region's natural parks and forests, especially the Congo Basin forest, considered the world's second-most important "green lung" after the Amazon.

The meetings on Friday and Saturday to hammer out a strategy for sustainable environmental management ended without any decision on a mechanism to fund what is estimated as a $1,5-billion (about R9,5-billion) plan over the next 10 years.

The Congo Basin nations - Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon - have pledged to foot 40 percent of the bill but want the rest of the financing to come from partnerships with Western nations, non-governmental groups and industries interested in forest resources.

"We're speaking of partnership. A partnership works with diversity. There are diverse means of action and various forms of financing. Everyone will do what they can and what they know how to do," France's delegate, Denys Gauer, said on Saturday."

EDIT

[blindpig]

1. fiddling while Rome burns

I know this stuff aint easy but gods! The lowland gorilla and so many others species just don't have the time for dicking around. How much are we spending in Iraq?