7025-03. Central Africa Programme with COMIFAC and SEEAC

The COMIFAC and its technical partner SEEAC together work on strengthening the application of ESIA and SEA in the Central Africa region. After developing regional directives for environmental assessment in 2016, the two organisations continue to promote their application and translation into national leglislation in the member states. The NCEA is a long standing partner of COMIFAC and SEEAC, and renewed the MoUs with both partners in February 2022 and November 2021, respectively. Currently, focus is on the development of a multi-annual technical programme that aims to deal with climate change adaptation and mitigation through impact assessment.

Significant details

The Commission for Forests of Central Africa (COMIFAC) is an intergovernmental organisation in Central Africa that focuses on sustainable management of forests in the Congo Basin. It cooperates frequently and intensively with the SEEAC, the Secretariat for Environmental Assessment in Central Africa. In 2016, COMIFAC and SEEAC decveloped a Directive with guidelines for environmental assessment for the forested zones in 10 Central African countries. 
A key feature in the Directive is the requirement to establish indepedendent institutions for ESIA review. This directive was adopted by the Council of Ministers in the same year and must now be transposed into the national laws and regulations of member states.

COMIFAC is planning to assist member states in the transposition of the mentioned Directive and signed MoUs with SEEAC and the NCEA for support and technical assistance. 

Parties involved

Members of the working group

Technical secretary: Gwen van Boven

Further details

Country: Angola; Burundi; Cameroon; Central Africa; Central African Republic; Chad; Congo Brazzaville; Democratic Republic of Congo; Equatorial Guinea; Gabon; Rwanda; Sao Tome and Principe

Last modified: 26 Jul 2022