DRC natural resource review press of Wednesday; May 22, 2013

The newspaper le Potentiel returns on Congolese timber seized in Antwerp and reports that civil society organizations working in the environmental sector say indignant about the behavior of the Kingdom of Belgium in relation to the release of the cargo timber from Afromosia DRC and seized the port of Antwerp (Belgium). In a letter to the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium last Tuesday, May 21, an environmental NGO group qualify this decision by the Belgian government rushed.

On another issue, the newspaper l'Avenir reported the held of the 11th meeting of the Steering Committee (PSC) of the Okapi Fund held yesterday circle French, in Kinshasa, according to the newspaper, the Steering Committee had registered at its February plenary, key points to his agenda: the status of essential reforms to ICCN, the progress of the development process of the Operations Manual Okapi Fund , the examination of the draft Statutes of Okapi Fund; review process for appointing members of the Board of Directors as well as the examination of the schedule of activities. On the same subject, the newspaper le Phare said that the Okapi Fund is a program of German-Congolese cooperation to support biodiversity and sustainable forest management and believes that this program is timely gestation for the DRC since forests must be put at the service of the economy and development.
For its part, the newspaper le Potentiel announced that the Minister of Water Resources and Electricity has, during the plenary yesterday Tuesday, May 21 in the Senate, presented the structure of the draft law on the electricity sector in DRC after its adoption by the National Assembly. For its part, the newspaper Forum des As emphasized that elected officials have all shown to be neither more nor less than the privatization of the electricity sector to be opened to private even if the text came from government not clearly stated. But the truth of the privatization induced price will practice each operator in the sector. This means that prices will collapse, operators not to the interests of the population, but their own profit.Forum des As informed that the DRC has set up a project to strengthen the capacity of public and private stakeholders in the country in the process of climate change. This project aims, particularly the identification and formulation of appropriate national mitigation actions (NAMAs) of greenhouse gas emissions. It also aims to develop the most promising ideas and priorities for reducing emissions of greenhouse gas emissions. It is apparent, the paper notes, the sensitization workshop on nationally appropriate mitigation of greenhouse gas greenhouse and the establishment of two thematic working groups on energy and agriculture
In the same register, the tri-weekly AfricaNews indicates that the World Bank plans to the $ 50 million package to support the efforts of the countries of the Congo basin and that in order to enable them to organize the future mechanism Reducing emissions of greenhouse gases from deforestation and forest degradation, REDD + -. In the same vein all these countries also have the support of the Partnership Fund for the forest-carbon-FCPF