BUJUMBURA, August 1st (ABP) – The Burundian Ministry of Environment, Agriculture and Livestock in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, Sustainable Development and the Congo Basin of the Republic of Congo organized, on Tuesday, July 30, 2024 in Bujumbura, an information meeting on the Climate Commission for the Congo Basin (CCBC) and the Blue Fund for the Congo Basin (F2BC), for executives of the Burundian ministries in charge of the environment and energy, a check on-the-spot by ABP has revealed.
The Burundian Minister in charge of the environment, Mr. Prosper Dodiko, specified that this meeting opens a new era of collaboration and active cooperation with the CCBC and the F2BC as active members. These latter constitute for Burundi, a happy initiative and an incredible opportunity, because they come to help Burundians to have clear and innovative ideas and to realize their ambitions in the sector of the environment and climate change.
He recalled that the CCBC’s calling is in particular to coordinate and guide priority initiatives in the field of the fight against climate change and sustainable development, to promote the policies and measures required in terms of adaptation and mitigation.
He added that this commission aims to consolidate Africa’s commitments in the fight against the effects of climate change to give more coherence to current or planned strategies, as well as to encourage and facilitate investment in sustainable development.
On that occasion, he also stressed that Burundi preferred to join the CCBC and F2BC to work together with other partner States to safeguard the forests and the environment of the Congo Basin. The funding of CCBC and F2BC comes from contributions from member states and development partners to carry out its project programs, he said.
According to him, CCBC member countries have selected 254 projects. In addition, Minister Dodiko said, Burundi has selected 3 projects among the 15 priority projects including the project to support the regional integrated development program of Lake Tanganyika, the municipal solid waste treatment project in the city of Bujumbura to produce electricity and the regional development project of Lake Victoria which is led by the Republic of Kenya.
To that end, he invited all stakeholders to redouble their efforts so that these projects selected by Burundi are carried out in time for Burundi to have the chance to present their achievements at the next summit. In addition, he recalled, the F2BC was launched during the ministerial conference held in March 2017 in the Republic of Congo to enable the States of the Congo Basin sub-region to move from an economy linked to the exploitation of forests to an economy relying more on resources from water management, particularly that of rivers, by signing the memorandum of understanding for the creation of the said Fund.
For her part, the Congolese Minister of the Environment, Sustainable Development and the Congo Basin, who is also the Executive Secretary of the CCBC, Mrs. Arlette Soudan Nonault, specified that the CCBC is a standardized and harmonized protocol on greenhouse gases to promote the entire carbon market and investments relating to economic activities resilient to climate change in the member countries of the CCBC.
Thus, she added, the CCBC aims to accelerate the implementation of the climate transition and the economic transformation of the Congo Basin in a sustainable development logic.
Concerning the achievements of this Commission, she cited in particular the inauguration of the CCBC headquarters and the Congo Basin radio-television.
It is worth recalling that the Congo Basin Climate Commission includes 17 countries, namely Burundi, Rwanda, Angola, Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Morocco, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, Sao Tome and Principe, South Sudan, Tanzania, Chad and Zambia.