From Global Outlook to Regional Response: Advancing the Congo Basin Forest Agenda
Presented by: Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI) and Rainforest Foundation Norway (RFN)
Hosted by: The Ministry of Environment, Sustainable Development and New Climate Economy of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
About Event
The Congo Basin is the last of the world’s three great tropical forest regions that still functions as a strong carbon sink. New data for 2016–2025 show a region that has contained forest loss without transforming its drivers. In 2025, 1.67 million hectares of tree cover were lost, 2% above the five-year average, and emissions from forest loss have been flat for a decade. At the same time, a new wave of mining, oil and infrastructure investment is moving towards final decisions.
RFN and CAFI are launching From Global Outlook to Regional Response: Advancing the Congo Basin Forest Agenda, a joint evidence paper that extends the Tropical Deforestation Outlook to the Congo Basin. Its message is clear: there is still a window, and a credible path to 2030.
The session brings together ministers from the Congo Basin, Norway, and representatives of Indigenous Peoples and local communities. It will:
present the paper’s five headline numbers, five messages and five priorities to 2030;
hear, in a high-level panel, how the Republic of the Congo, Gabon and the Central African Republic are responding to very different situations, and how Norway sees the priorities for forest finance;
show how the DRC, which accounts for 77% of the Basin’s forest loss, is transforming its rural economy;
discuss how climate finance can reach local communities and Indigenous Peoples, at a time when less than a fifth of the finance intended for them does.
Participants are invited to share how the findings could inform their own institution’s action, building on Section 7 of the paper, “From evidence to action”.
Speakers
HE Marie Nyange Ndambo, Minister of Environment, Sustainable Development and New Climate Economy, DRC
HE Rosalie Matondo, Minister of Forest Economy, Republic of the Congo
HE Stephen Mouba, Minister of Environment and Climate, Gabon
HE Silla Sembella, Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, Central African Republic
Mr Andreas Dahl-Jørgensen, Special Envoy, Norway’s International Climate and Forest Initiative (NICFI)
Mr Emmanuel Tsadok, Advisor, Ministry of Environment, Sustainable Development and New Climate Economy, DRC
Mr Diel Moshire, Liaison Officer, Shandia and REPALEAC Fund
Dr Chadrack Kafuti, Senior Advisor, CAFI Secretariat
Mr Benjamin Bisimwa, Drivers of Deforestation Adviser, Rainforest Foundation Norway
Mr Torbjørn Gjefsen, Head of Policy, Rainforest Foundation Norway
Good to know
Language: English–French interpretation will be available.
Arrive early: please arrive 10–15 minutes before the start.