The Three Forest Basins Summit, held from October 26 to 28, 2023 in Brazzaville, brought together experts, ministers and heads of state with the aim of coordinating policies to combat deforestation, protect the climate, peatlands and accelerate the energy transition. This summit was supposed to bring together representatives of the world’s three major forest basins: the Amazon, the Congo and Borneo-Mekong. However, only representatives from the Congo Basin were physically present in Brazzaville, raising questions about the absence of other basins.
Although the reasons for this absence were not officially specified, the summit organizers still wanted to convey the messages and demands of Brazil and Indonesia during the discussions. Their ambition was to find common solutions to fight deforestation, preserve the environment and accelerate the transition to more sustainable energy sources.
This summit recalls a previous event which also took place in Brazzaville in 2011, where the three forest basins expressed their common ambitions in a declaration, without however managing to set up a permanent structure to coordinate them.
Despite the difficulties encountered, the Brazzaville summit allowed for fruitful exchanges between representatives of the Congo Basin. Discussions focused on the challenges they face in terms of deforestation, the environmental preservation initiatives put in place and the measures to be taken to accelerate the energy transition in the region.
This meeting also drew attention to the urgency of the situation. The world’s forest basins are essential for the fight against climate change, the preservation of biodiversity and the well-being of the communities that depend on them. It is therefore crucial to intensify efforts to protect and restore these precious ecosystems.
In conclusion, although the representatives of the Amazon and Borneo-Mekong basins were not able to be physically present during the Summit of the three forest basins in Brazzaville, this meeting still allowed constructive discussions on the fight against deforestation, environmental preservation and energy transition in the Congo Basin. It is important to continue to support and strengthen these initiatives to preserve these vital ecosystems for our planet.