Salonga Financing Agreement Signature

On 22nd December 2016, the European Union Delegation in the DRC, the COFED and WWF DRC have signed in Kinshasa, the capital city of the DRC, the financing agreement for Salonga Complex Conservation and Rural Agriculture Programme implementation despite the political instability unfolding in the country.
WWF DRC developed this programme in conjunction with WWF Germany, OXFAM and ISCO, and got funding from the European Union Delegation in the DRC under its external actions policy. Thus, 17,300,000 Euros have been officially allocated to implement this major Conservation programme in the Congo Basin.
The key objective for this 60 months extensive programme is the contribution to the protection and promotion of the environmental capital of the Salonga complex while increasing the positive economic impact for local communities.
The protection and promotion of the outstanding biodiversity of the Salonga national parc, the sustainability approach in the agricultural and forestry production, the ecosystem services contributing noticeably in the social and economic development of local communities around, are the specific objectives assigned to this programme.
Moreover, it should be recalled that the Salonga National Parc services are very important  in the Congo Basin, particularly in terms of carbone storage, climate regulation and fishery production.
The Salonga National Parc has been created in 1970 and covers a territory of 36,000 km² in the Congo Basin, representing the biggest protected rainforest and national parc in Africa. It has two main blocks - “North and South- separated by an estimated 45 km corridor. Since 1984, the Salonga National parc has been inscribed in the list of the UNESCO World Heritage due to its environmental value.
This new funding will speed the successful implementation of the Salonga co-management agreement signed between WWF-DRC and ICCN in August 2015 opening a new approach to second world’s forest protection, said M. Jean Claude Muhindo, WWF-DRC Country Director.