Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI)
The Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI) is a collaborative partnership that supports strategic, holistic and country-level REDD+ and Low Emission Development investments in 6 partner countries - Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, D.R. Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon - with the support of a coalition of donors: the European Union, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, South Korea and the United Kingdom. CAFI's support focuses on 4 key areas:
- developing and implementing National Investment Frameworks (NIFs) endorsed at the highest level by national institutions with cross sectoral mandates
- providing funding based on the achievement of policy and programmatic milestones that are spelled out in letters of intent
- encouraging donor coordination and alignment of bilateral assistance to partner countries based on NIFs
- promoting inclusive participation of all stakeholders
CAFI supports national actions that combine:
1) Sustainable agricultural practices towards less land conversion and increased food security
2) Sustainable alternatives to current wood energy practices
3) Enhanced capacity of forestry sector institutions and the legal frameworks to promote, monitor and enforce sustainable forest management
4) Future infrastructure and mining projects that minimize their overall footprint
5) Land use planning decisions that ensure a balanced representation of sectoral interests and keep forests standing
6) Better tenure security that does not incentivize conversion
7) Slower population growth and migration to forests
8) Better inter-ministerial coordination and governance resulting in the permit and fiscal regimes that do not push actors to forest conversion and illegal activities
As of June 2020, CAFI has mobilized USD219 million to support 22 active programs in 6 countries.