Press Release
21 March 2007
Budget 2007: Benn announces £50 million UK contribution to new Congo Basin
rainforest conservation fund
Following the Chancellor's announcement in the Budget of the creation of the
£800 million Environmental Transformation Fund; the International Development
Secretary, Hilary Benn, today announced a £50 million UK contribution to a new
fund to help conserve the Congo Basin rainforest.
The new fund initiative will support proposals made by ten central African
countries to protect the Congo Basin rainforest – the second largest in the
world and roughly twice the size of France - from destruction. The main threats
are due to logging, mining and clearance for agriculture.
Professor Wangari Maathai, a distinguished former winner of the Nobel Peace
Prize and tireless campaigner for integrating the issues of development, climate
change and transparency, and Canada’s former Prime Minister, Paul Martin, who is
a long-standing advocate for debt relief and for African leadership in
development, will both lead on the establishment of the fund for the Congo Basin
rainforest as Goodwill Ambassadors.
Hilary Benn said:
“Fifty million local people rely on the tropical rainforest of the Congo
Basin for food, shelter and their livelihoods while the world relies on it and
other rainforests as an ecological handbrake on our rapidly changing climate.
“But deforestation is a serious problem with nearly 6,000 square miles -
that’s equivalent to the area of North Yorkshire, Lancashire, Derbyshire and
Cheshire combined – being destroyed every year.
“The UK’s initial contribution of £50 million to this African initiative
which we hope other countries will support will help empower local people to
live and work in the forest while helping to prevent the double tragedy for them
and the world that deforestation would bring.”
Professor Wangari Maathai and Paul Martin will advise on the fund's
governance and financial management, ensuring that it has strong African
ownership and supports the needs of the Congo Basin countries. This will ensure
that local people’s livelihoods and rights are protected while helping them to
better manage the forest and find livelihoods consistent with forest
conservation.
The new fund will strengthen the work of the donors who are already active in
the region, including Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, and the US, and it will
open a channel for new donors to add their support.
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Notes for editors
1. The Stern Report on climate change, published in October 2006, highlighted
that deforestation is responsible for 18% of world greenhouse gas emissions and
prompt action to tackle deforestation is a critical part of the global response
to climate change.
2. The Congo Basin rainforest covers an area of nearly 700,000 square miles.
North Yorkshire covers approximately 3,200 square miles; Lancashire over 1,100
square miles; Derbyshire over 550 square miles and Cheshire over 800 square
miles.
For further information, contact Vickie Sheriff on 020 7023 0950 or 020 7023
0600, e-mail pressoffice@dfid.gov.uk
or call our Public Enquiries Point on 0845 300 4100.
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Useful links
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WWF
in the Congo Basin