Central Africa is home to the second largest rainforest in the world, the Congo Basin. However, while this massive forest block stores huge amounts of carbon, it receives significantly less international funding than the Amazon and Southeast Asia’s forests. Financing being a central to combat climate change, this study aims to map international flows supporting the forest and environment sectors in Central Africa.This publication analyses the funding flows over the last decade in support of nature conservation and sustainable management of the Congo Basin, presents various themes covered by the current financing and identifies possible imbalances. It also provides a comparative analysis between financing flows to the various forest basins in the world and identifies opportunities for increasing financing for forests in Central Africa.Specifically, the report provides data on the Official Development Assistance (ODA) to Central Africa in the period 2008-2017. The authors, using a well-structured methodology bring out the various characteristics of funding to Central African countries highlighting the top bilateral donor, Germany, and the top multilateral donor, the European Union.Richard Eba’a Atyi, lead author, is the regional coordinator for the Center of International Forestry Research (CIFOR) in Central Africa. He also coordinates the Strengthening and institutionalization of the Central African Forest Observatory (RIOFAC) project which supported this study. He worked in collaboration with Liboum Mbonayem - forestry engineer and research officer at CIFOR in Central Africa, Phillipe Guizol – senior scientist at CIFOR and The French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD) and Ibrahim M. Favada – Forest economist.

"This volume is a product of the staff of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank."

Many countries around the world are engaged in decentralization processes, and most African countries face serious problems with forest governance, from benefits sharing to illegality and sustainable forest management. This book summarizes experiences to date on the extent and nature of decentralization and its outcomes - most of which suggest an underperformance of governance reforms - and explores the viability of different governance instruments in the context of weak governance and expanding commercial pressures over forests. Findings are grouped into two thematic areas: decentralization, livelihoods and sustainable forest management; and international trade, finance and forest sector governance reforms. The authors examine diverse forces shaping the forest sector, including the theory and practice of decentralization, usurpation of authority, corruption and illegality, inequitable patterns of benefits capture and expansion of international trade in timber and carbon credits, and discuss related outcomes on livelihoods, forest condition and equity. The book builds on earlier volumes exploring different dimensions of decentralization and perspectives from other world regions, and distills dimensions of forest governance that are both unique to Africa and representative of broader global patterns. The authors ground their analysis in relevant theory while drawing out implications of their findings for policy and practice.

Provides a pan-African synthesis of community-based natural resource management (CBNRM), drawing on multiple authors and a wide range of documented experiences from Southern, Eastern, Western and Central Africa. This title discusses the degree to which CBNRM has met poverty alleviation, economic development and nature conservation objectives.

REDD+ is one of the leading near-term options for global climate change mitigation. More than 300 subnational REDD+ initiatives have been launched across the tropics, responding to both the call for demonstration activities in the Bali Action Plan and the market for voluntary carbon offset credits.

REDD+ must be transformational. REDD+ requires broad institutional and governance reforms, such as tenure, decentralisation, and corruption control. These reforms will enable departures from business as usual, and involve communities and forest users in making and implementing policies that a ect them. Policies must go beyond forestry. REDD+ strategies must include policies outside the forestry sector narrowly de ned, such as agriculture and energy, and better coordinate across sectors to deal with non-forest drivers of deforestation and degradation. Performance-based payments are key, yet limited. Payments based on performance directly incentivise and compensate forest owners and users. But schemes such as payments for environmental services (PES) depend on conditions, such as secure tenure, solid carbon data and transparent governance, that are often lacking and take time to change. This constraint reinforces the need for broad institutional and policy reforms. We must learn from the past. Many approaches to REDD+ now being considered are similar to previous e orts to conserve and better manage forests, often with limited success. Taking on board lessons learned from past experience will improve the prospects of REDD+ e ectiveness. National circumstances and uncertainty must be factored in. Di erent country contexts will create a variety of REDD+ models with di erent institutional and policy mixes. Uncertainties about the shape of the future global REDD+ system, national readiness and political consensus require  exibility and a phased approach to REDD+ implementation.