Sustainable forest management in Lake Chad, Congo basins: Gov’t, partners pledge to mobilise over 1,391 billion FCFA.

Speaking at the event, Minister of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development, Alamine Ousmane Mey, said the engagement is within the framework of the strategic partnership between Cameroon and CAFI.

Minister Ousmane Mey said the goal is part of an ambitious initiative to transition towards a green economy.  He stated that, the goal is to mobilise the money latest 2035.

The money, he said, would be channeled towards making Cameroon´s agricultural, forestry and mining value chains competitive on international markets, while ensuring food security and significantly reducing deforestation. 

Implementation of CAFI, he added, is structured in three phases viz; a startup phase that runs from 2025 to 2028; an engagement phase and a scale up phase. 

The startup phase, the minister said, revolves around four complementary pilot projects, that are expected to frame a coherent and synthetic set that systematically address Cameroon´s sustainable development challenges. 

The first scheme, the minister said, is the Multilevel and Inter-sectorial Coordination Support Project. This, he told guests, will be funded by the German Cooperation Mission, GTZ and United Nations Development Programme, UNDP, to the tune of 9,608,642,000 FCFA. He said it will be executed within 36 months.

The second project with French acronym, PAIDATA, Minister Ousmane Mey said, is that which deals with the intensification of durable 

He said the International Finance Association, IFAD, and International Fund for Agricultural Development, FIDA, will finance PAIDATA. 

The third scheme, he said, is the Integrated Land Management Project of Grand Mbam, to be funded by the German Development Bank, KfW, to the tune of 11,134,000,000 FCFA. He said it will be executed over a period of 48 months from 2026-2029.

The fourth project, PRCAT, which is the Capacity Building Project in Territorial Planning, it was said, will be funded by the GIZ, to the tune of 4,063,910,000 FCFA. Execution, he said, is already underway and will end in 2028.

Involvement of UN System

According to the Resident Coordinator of the United Nations System in Cameroon, Dr Issa Sanogo, all the four projects are designed to guarantee sustainable practice of agriculture in Cameroon, while at the same time ensuring the preservation of the ecosystem.

He pledged the readiness of the UN System to provide technical support so that all the projects are executed successfully. 

He thanked the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP´s contribution to the development of Cameroon.  Dr Sanogo said the UNDP has contributed in helping to put Cameroon on a development path that promotes collective resilience, and a model for member states of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community, CEMAC to emulate.

The approach adopted by CAFI, Dr Sanogo said, will be most instrumental in  achieving the United Nations Development Goals, UNSDGs, number 13 and 15 on environmental protection and human development. 

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3712 of Monday February 23, 2026