TNC, FSC Africa Strike Partnership to Expand Certified Forest Management

The Nature Conservancy and Forest Stewardship Council’s Africa unit have formed a partnership aimed at expanding sustainable forest management and conservation across the continent through 2030.

The agreement focuses on protecting forests, restoring degraded land and strengthening climate-related forest programmes, as African countries face mounting pressure from logging, agriculture and climate change.

Africa’s forests play a key role in regulating rainfall, storing carbon and supporting millions of livelihoods, but conservation groups say the scale of threats requires coordinated action between governments, communities and environmental organisations.

Under the partnership, the two organisations plan to combine TNC’s conservation research and field projects with FSC’s certification systems designed to promote responsible forestry and improve transparency in forest management.

Initial work will concentrate on the Congo Basin, one of the world’s largest tropical forest regions spanning countries including Cameroon, Gabon and the Republic of the Congo.

The groups said they will work with governments, forest managers and local communities to improve oversight of forest resources and expand certified forestry.

The partnership builds on existing cooperation in Gabon, where programmes are under way to strengthen forest certification systems, improve carbon measurement and support community forest management.

The initiative is also linked to the Zámba Heritage Initiative, a plan launched by FSC Africa that aims to bring about 30 million hectares of forests under certified sustainable management and restore 5 million hectares of degraded land across Africa.

Environmental groups say expanding certified forestry could help attract climate finance and responsible investment while preserving biodiversity in one of the planet’s most important carbon sinks.

The organisations said the collaboration seeks to increase the area of responsibly managed forests and strengthen the role of forest landscapes in Africa’s climate and development plans.

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