The Libreville plan

In the wake of COP15 on biodiversity, and the commitment of

the international community to protect 30% of natural areas
between now and 2030, more than 20 countries representative
of the great forest basins met in Libreville, surrounded by African
forest, for a One Forest Summit dedicated to seeking solutions
to protect tropical forests, with the scientific community, African
youth, business leaders, indigenous peoples and senior staff
from UNESCO, the IUCN, the Global Environment Facility and
the Green Climate Fund all present.
 OVERVIEW OF THE LIBREVILLE PLAN :

– A fair agreement between forest countries and the international commu-

nity, to reconcile environmental ambition with economic development.

– A hallmark initiative to protect the most vital carbon and diversity reserves:
Positive Conservation Partnerships (PCPs), with an initial budget of €100 mil-
lion, and a mechanism to remunerate exemplary countries via “biodiversity
credits”.

– An emblematic scientific project called “One Forest Vision”, to measure the

net balance of carbon sequestration and accurately map the most vital car-
bon and biodiversity reserves in the Amazon, Africa and Asia over the next
five years.

– A 10by30 strategy for business leaders in the three forest basins to gene-
rate 10 million jobs by 2030 in activities related to sustainable exploitation of
tropical forests, and a series of tangible corporate commitments.

THE SPIRIT OF LIBREVILLE: 2. A principle of cohabitation between hu-

mans and nature - Protecting forests requires
A FAIR AGREEMENT BETWEEN
a vast selection of tools, ranging from strong
THE INTERNATIONAL protection such as national parks to methods
COMMUNITY AND FOREST of sustainable management of natural re-
STATES sources. A protected forest, which maintains
and increases its carbon sequestration rate,
Following on from COP15, we need a fair agree- remains open to people. A protected forest is
ment between the international community, the one that is sustainably managed and benefits
future of which depends on the conservation of local populations.
carbon sinks and biodiversity, and forest coun-
tries, which rightly wish to reconcile environmen- 3. Environmental ambition working for
tal ambitions and economic prosperity for their people - Protecting forests also provides
peoples. economic opportunity: the potential of the
bioeconomy and local and sustainable trans-
This agreement is founded on five fundamen- formation of forest products is huge. But de-
tal pillars, strongly voiced at Libreville: forestation is currently a threat to people:
destroying forests upsets the water cycle,
1. A political commitment - We will not win degrades land and diminishes genetic diver-
the fight against climate change without tro- sity, an inestimable source of innovation and
pical forests, which are one of the world’s key knowledge.
carbon sinks. We must urgently stop and re-
verse deforestation by 2030.
 4. Protecting what is vital - Certain vital car- Some fifty business leaders, who came to-
bon and biodiversity reserves warrant a high gether within a “One Forest Business Forum”,
level of protection because their degradation launched the 10by30 initiative, which aims to
would have irreversible consequences. This create 10 million jobs in activities linked to sus-
is case for mangroves, peat bogs and cer- tainable management of forests by 2030. This
tain primary forests, home to what are called vision should accelerate the transition to the
umbrella species because they alone support bioeconomy and local transformation, which ge-
ecosystems (gorillas, orangutans, elephants, nerate much more income for local populations.
jaguars, etc.). Several businesses made concrete announce-
ments in that area, which you can read about in
5. Remunerating forest countries for provi- the annex.
ding services to the rest of the world - Develo-
ping forest countries that have high aims for Gabon, France and Canada launched an in-
nature and are working to achieve these aims tergovernmental platform on the sustainable use
should be remunerated by the international of wood and bio-based materials in construction,
community. to help replace concrete and cement in the years
to come and in particular to transform African
urbanization strategies. Nine countries decided
COMMITMENT BY ALL ACTORS to join this coalition (Cambodia, Côte d’Ivoire,
Republic of the Congo, Uganda, the United King-
TO REPLACE NATURAL CAPITAL
dom, Zambia, France, Gabon and Canada).
AT THE CENTRE OF OUR
ECONOMY On the basis of recommendations made by
a group of experts coordinated by the Global
To fulfil our commitments, international solida- Environment Facility, a multi-stakeholder coali-
rity must be increased, and we need to demons- tion of States, investors, certifying bodies and
trate that environmental ambition is synony- non-governmental organizations, launched a
mous with economic prosperity. The One Forest Libreville work plan to accelerate the structuring
Summit is the first international summit to focus of a market for carbon credits of very high envi-
discussions on promoting natural capital. It is a ronmental and social quality, for projects or na-
challenge for forest countries, and for the global tional policies and initiatives.
economy, which must stop seeing nature as a
free, inexhaustible good. Indigenous populations are the rainforest’s
primary guardians, through their knowledge and
To translate this approach into tangible actions, ancestral traditions, and also through the unique
four major communities of stakeholders met in relationship that they can attest to between hu-
Libreville to make commitments: mans and nature. Uganda, France and Gabon
are launching a One Forest Guardian, to propose
la communauté scientifique aThe scientific to interested countries that these practices, of
community launched the One Forest Vision pro- inestimable value for the future of humanity, be
ject, which aims to gain more knowledge about added to the UNESCO World Heritage List by
the value of the forest, by mapping out the vital 2024.
carbon and global biodiversity reserves in the
next five years, and measuring the level of car- Young representatives and leaders from the
bon sequestration in rainforests. Congo basin organized the One Forest Youth
Summit in order to put forward recommenda-
tions and solid project proposals to Heads of
State and Government to promote conservation
and sustainable management of rainforests.
PROTECTING WHAT IS VITAL: Based on the recommendations of the Global
POSITIVE CONSERVATION Environment Facility, the aim will be to sketch
out the form of this new innovative financing tool,
PARTNERSHIPS (PCPS)
tied in with carbon credits (one tree planted, one
tree saved) and with a view to guaranteeing the
This initiative, launched at COP27, offers a politi-
full environmental integrity of a potential biodi-
cal and financial “contract” to countries that agree
versity certificates market.
to keep vital carbon and biodiversity reserves in
their territory intact. These partnerships involve
— Lastly, in order to swiftly initiate PCPs and
an investment plan for the protection of carbon
to ensure tangible results by COP28 in Dubai,
and biodiversity reserves and aim to prevent de-
France, Conservation International and the
forestation.
Walton Family Foundation are announcing
the creation of a first PCP contracts invest-
The One Forest Summit brought progress on
ment of €100 million.
PCPs, in the form of a three-phase schedule.

1) Le temps de l’engagement politique.

1) The political commitment phase. The coun-
tries with the most vital carbon and biodiversity
reserves can commit to protect them with the
support of the secretariat of the High Ambition
Coalition for Nature and People (HAC). This is
the first step towards generating much more si-
gnificant finance from the international commu-
nity.

2) The implementing phase. This provides

forest countries with financial resources and
technological and scientific tools under the One
Forest Vision partnership, as well as economic
solutions via the 10by30 initiative.

3) The compensation phase. This rewards

services to the rest of the world: in return for
their commitment, the international community
will provide forest countries with more finance,
as well as a compensation mechanism for the
services provided, including carbon sequestra-
tion, by the preserved natural reserves. Based
on rigorous monitoring of the implementation of
these commitments and their results, the PCP
initiative aims to create a compensation mecha-
nism for the services provided by forest coun-
tries: committed States would produce “biodi-
versity certificates” that could be purchased by
sovereign States or private actors as a positive
contribution to the protection of nature.
— ANNEX By determining the zone of origin of a batch

Corporate
of commodities based on a photograph, Inarix
could, for example, identify the produce of pro-
tected areas and thus fight deforestation.

commitments Touton has committed to strong partnerships

at the One
with other start-ups through the funding of pi-
lot projects and prototypes and by incorporating
them into its value chains, such as NetZero,

Forest Summit which works on pyrolysis of tropical biomass in

Cameroon and Brazil to generate biochar, which
is then applied to soils to sequester carbon and
generate high-quality credits.

At the One Forest Summit, businesses an- The start-up Kermap, a Greentech Innovation
nounced the following commitments and laureate, announced the launch of its Nimbo
partnerships: project that will offer a digital twin for almost-
real-time Earth observation. Nimbo will provide
SouthBridge, a Pan-African advisory and in- new tools that are both functional and effective
vestment company, announced a €2 billion fund in order to facilitate environmental monitoring
for restoration and reforestation at COP27, in and ensure reliability. It will contribute to on-
partnership with Eurazeo. At the One Forest going efforts to improve control and sustainable
Summit, SouthBridge and Eurazeo set out the management of forests. The project will also pro-
schedule for the first projects that will be an- vide precious data for the prevention of future
nounced in the run-up to COP28 and expressed pandemics, with an approach combining envi-
interest in coordinating this fund with the PCP ronmental, animal and human health.
country approach.
Rougier, a company specialized in local produc-
Eramet and its Gabonese subsidiary Comi- tion, processing and sale of logs, sawn timber and
log presented Biomine, their project to develop plywood that operates almost 900,000 hectares
bio-reducers to replace the coke currently used of FSC-certified forest concessions in Gabon
as a reducer in their metallurgical furnaces. The and will celebrate its centenary in 2023, signed
company is also committed to a forest-planting a strategic agreement with Flying Whales, an
programme to contribute to the development of innovative company developing a solution for
a forest economy in Gabon’s Haut-Ogooué re- transport of wood in forests using airships, with
gion. no footprint on the ground and limited carbon
emissions in flight. This agreement aims to stu-
Touton, a major trader in cocoa and other tropi- dy applications of the Flying Whales technology
cal agricultural commodities involved in sustai- and its benefits for the forest sector, in terms
nable projects, and Inarix, a start-up developing of operability, yield and security, as well as re-
an innovative technology using artificial intelli- ducing carbon intensity and logistical pressure
gence and biometric recognition by smartphone, on ecosystems. The positive effects of this new
have formed a partnership to improve traceabi- airship-based transport system could include
lity in the cocoa and coffee industry. Inarix is now stimulation of local economies, training, employ-
capable of delivering quality analysis after har- ment and service opportunities, and improved
vest via a smartphone, based on a mere photo- autonomy and quality of life, as well as a long-
graph of beans, as well as certain key traceability term boost to revenue diversification thanks to
criteria such as geographical origin. relations with this industry.
Flying Whales also signed a strategic agree- This commitment is in line with the French Ini-
ment with the GSEZ (Gabon Special Economic tiative for Sustainable Cocoa (IFCD), launched
Zone), a public-private partnership between in 2021, the objective of which is threefold:
the Gabonese government and Arise IIP, a economic, social and environmental. The entire
company specialized in the design, financing, French sector committed to improving the in-
construction and management of cutting-edge come of cocoa farmers and of their families, so
infrastructure in Africa, which operates in a do- that they may have a decent income, to bring
zen African countries. The agreement aims to an end to supplies from deforestation, and to fi-
lay the foundations for the installation of Flying ght against forced labour and child labour. The
Whales operational sites in Gabon. It will provide CICC sets up centres of excellence and conducts
Gabon with a country-wide air transport service a programme called New Generation through
for goods all year round. Other applications with which hundreds of young people, both boys and
considerable added value will also be addressed, girls, have begun working in cocoa farming for
such as deployment of the “Flying Care” air-trans- the long term. The CICC and Les Chocolatiers
ported mobile hospital, enabling pooling of a Engagés lead cooperatives that produce sustai-
complete hospital facility in areas where they are nable, ethical cocoa, with a particular focus on
lacking. These developments will aim to cut iso- forest preservation.
lation and foster inclusion and supply availability
for local communities while preserving Gabon’s The French cosmetics industry announced
exceptional natural capital: 88% of the country that it would allocate more than €500,000 to
is covered by forests and wetlands. compile a “cosmetopoeia” on plants sourced in
the Congo forest basin (Central Africa). This fi-
Arise IIP committed to develop wood energy nancing, drawn from the Cosmetic Valley en-
plantations in Gabon (3,000 ha), DRC (3,000 dowment fund, will enable grants to be allocated
ha), Togo (2,000 ha), the Congo (3,000 ha) and in countries to set up traineeships, doctorate and
Benin (3,000 ha) and develop two new training post-doctorate programmes. This commitment
centres in partnership with local governments by the French cosmetics industry aims to enable
(in addition to existing ones in Benin and Togo). study and classification by local stakeholders of
The company is launching a $100-million fund the plant genetic resources found in the forest
to support SMEs, as well as roadshows in France, and their traditional uses for skin and hair pro-
Germany and Italy from April to encourage Eu- tection and beauty.
ropean SMEs to invest in sustainable industriali-
zation and local processing of natural resources. Valgo, the leading French company in clean-up
Arise IIP will sign an MoU with Okala to help and remediation of polluted sites and soil, pre-
monitor biodiversity in Gabon, 80% financed by sented the results of a comprehensive study at
ATIF, a joint stakeholder in Arise. Arise invests in Libreville, equivalent to a declaration of intent,
the Democratic Republic of the Congo in indus- carried out as part of a partnership between Ga-
trial zones for wood processing and agriculture. bon and France for the remediation of the Min-
The company will also adopt CarbonCure tech- doubé rubbish tip. The project involves the re-
nology in industrial estates. mediation of the Mindoubé tip to convert it into
a high-quality, exemplary ecological area, to be
Cameroon’s Conseil Interprofessionnel du Ca- used by local communities. The study will enable
cao et du Café (CICC, cocoa and coffee trade the Gabonese authorities to launch a general-in-
council) presented its partnership with the terest environmental project for the health of
French association “Les Chocolatiers Engagés”, local communities and the revitalization of the
which pays cocoa producers a fairly high price, environment.
negotiated and mutually agreed on at the begin-
ning of each cocoa production season.
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