At lawmakers’ subregional confab in Yaounde: WWF Cameroon pushes for climate justice for Congo Basin countries.

This stance was pushed by WWF Cameroon during the Parliamentary Conference on Science, Environmental Governance and Climate Finance in Central Africa held at the National Assembly.

The three-day subregional conference, which ended Thursday September 24, brought together scientists and parliamentarians from Congo, DR Congo, Gabon, Chad, Central Africa Republic and Cameroon. It was organised by the Cameroon Parliamentary Network for the Sustainable Management of Central African Forest Ecosystems, REPAR, in collaboration with the Central African Forest Commission, COMIFAC, and the support of European Union, UE. 

The WWF Cameroon’s presentation at the confab was made by the TRIDOM Landscape Finance Manager, Jonas Syapze Kemajou. 

According to the conservation expert, during the period of 2017-2021, the Congo Basin was able to mobilise only 4% of forest finance flows compared with the Amazon Basin and the Borneo-Mekong Basin in South-East Asia. 

He then described the situation as worrying, given that these two other basins have very high rates of deforestation, and contradicts the current international instruments which places emphasis on funding restoration and on the carbon credits generated by restoration and thus seen as rewarding the ‘poor performers’.

As outlined in the 1992 Rio Conference, Kemajou said, States or areas that committed to managing their forest ecosystems sustainably, ensuring conservation and guarantee low deforestation rates, ought to receive the lion’s share of the climate financing.

He regretted that rather than the forests of the Congo Basin being sources of revenue for the respective governments, they have emerged as sources of budgetary expenditure. 

“It is high time that governments gave this some thought to see how to reverse the trend, and how to work together with COMIFAC to reverse the trend. I also spoke about our landscape-based approach to green finance and the greening of finance,” he declared to the press.

What MPs must do to overturn trend

In the face of the unfavourable trend of climate financing, the WWF official urged lawmakers; be they parliamentarians or senators, to work in their respective countries with COMIFAC and the countries, to drive forward an approach involving advocacy and legislative proposals. 

“Taking the example of a forestry operation where one hectare of forest generates around $45 for the member states, if the States can pass laws to ensure that public procurement focuses on local timber, on the processing of local timber, and on locally made furniture, this will generate much greater added value within the states, and it will also create many jobs,” he explained.

He equally cited Article 5 of the Paris Climate Agreement, which makes references to the sustainable management of forests and the utilisation of forest carbon stocks.

He then raised the issue of the forests of the Congo Basin with an estimated 40 gigatonnes of carbon, according to data released by the Central African Forest Observatory.

Broader view on Congo Basin

With these issues at stake, Kemajou pointed out the importance of the lawmakers from Central African countries to discuss issues relating to science and climate finance in the decision-making process. 

He then praised REPAR for their organisation, signaling that the message of the conference centred on the issue of climate finance, setting out a path that Central African countries could follow, focusing on the sustainable use of resources derived from forest ecosystems.

“How can we all work together to initiate a negotiating approach in which we are in control of our data, we understand the issues at stake, and we set the pace of the negotiations?” he stated.

He added that “if the stored forest carbon is to be valued, it is essential that governments seize this opportunity to determine the value of the carbon and assess how the global community will finance local action, because what we are doing in our countries is local action that generates global benefits”.  

Kemajou then avowed WWF Cameroon’s commitment to continue working with COMIFAC to support its activities and the countries in developing this initiative, because this is also a matter of climate justice.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3923 of Monday September 28, 2026