Stefania Bianchi
6 July 2004
Brussels — Besides holding one of the most difficult jobs in the European Union, president of the European Commission Romano Prodi has also put his name to a book about African rainforests.
Or at least he has penned his support for a new book 'Forests of Central Africa, Nature and Man' by Jean Pierre Vande Weghe. The book was launched in Brussels Tuesday (Jul. 6).
Recognising the global importance of central Africa's tropical forests, the European Commission, the European Union (EU) executive, launched several major regional initiatives to support forest conservation and management in 1992.
The book, which was written with the support of the European Commission, is based on the experience and knowledge gained in the framework of these programmes.
It describes the origins and main characteristics of the African tropical forests, their dynamics and ways of functioning.
A summary of the present state of the forests is given, and perspectives are suggested, emphasising the sustained support which is needed to ensure the survival of the forests.
The dense humid forests of central Africa represent the second largest block of rainforest left on earth - second only to the Amazon forest in Latin America.
The forests, which stretch over about 670,000 square kilometres of the Congo, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, are among the richest wilderness areas on earth in terms of biodiversity.
Over 10,000 plant species occur there, of which 40 percent are found only in the sub- region. Fauna is also abundant and varied, with some 263 mammal species, including large mammals such as forest elephant, guerillas and chimpanzees.
The book outlines the challenges facing the forests.
Although humans have for long been shaping the landscape of the central African forests, population densities remain low throughout the region and forests have remained generally intact until fairly recently.
However this situation has started to change rapidly over the past 20 years with the emergence of a major threat to bio-diversity -- the bush meat trade supplying the urban centres where the majority of central Africa's people live.
The rapid emergence of this threat has been made possible by the extensive network of roads, many opened by logging companies, which now penetrate deep into the most remote corners of the forest.
Unlike southeast Asia, where wholesale forest destruction has occurred as a result of logging, logging in central Africa is relatively selective. The changes caused to forest structure are therefore limited, but the impact is nevertheless devastating as forests are emptied of their wildlife.
Launching the book Tuesday, Prodi said that addressing the needs and aspirations of local populations has been a "major preoccupation" for the European Commission.
"I am proud to say that this book is an indication of the importance that the countries of central Africa, with the support of the Commission, have attached to tropical forests over the past decade of cooperation," he said at the launch.
"We would do well to remember that the safeguard of these forests must be a vital element in our united strategy to reduce poverty," he added.
Between 1992 and 2004 the Commission contributed approximately 87.9 million dollars to ECOFAC (Conservation et utilisation rationnelle des écosystèmes forestiers d'Afriques centrale) through its European Development Funds (EDF) which support developing countries.
The ECOFAC programme combines two basic and complementary principles: conservation and development. It also fully involves the forest dwelling people in its activities.
Henri Djombo, minister of forests and the environment in the Democratic Republic of Congo, thanked the Commission for its support and contribution to the book, saying it showed a "different side to Africa than the one that is usually shown in the press."
While welcoming the partnership between the European Commission and his country, he said he hoped that "further cooperation would be possible in the future."
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