During his stay, the Director General of FSC will also meet with FSC certificate holders, FSC members, multilateral bodies, civil society, and the media to exchange on current challenges related to forest, climate and ecosystem services, and the way FSC solutions are contributing to addressing them in Gabon, the Congo Basin and globally.
Specifically, Mr Carstensen will focus on three key issues.
- How to help local actors use responsible forest management as a tool to strengthen the development of national industries.
- How to leverage innovative financing for ecosystem services.
- How to advance the forest certification agenda in the country.
"The FSC Director General's visit to Gabon will allow him to discuss with stakeholders how to add value to forests and how to use forest management principles to improve conservation and biodiversity protection for future generations in Gabon and the wider Central African region," says George Akwah, FSC Congo Basin Coordinator.
This visit is also an opportunity for the Director General of FSC to discuss with partners about progress in the implementation of the cooperation agreement he jointly signed with Gabon’s Minister of Water and Forests, a framework of collaboration between FSC and the Gabonese Government to advance the country’s ambition to achieve generalized FSC certification of all forest concessions.
In September 2018, the President of Gabon, H.E. Ali Bongo Ondimba, took an important step towards sustainable forest management. He declared that by 2022, all forest concessions operating in Gabon should be FSC certified.