Events

The conference will present the conclusions of this capitalisation study and discuss new guidelines and principles with all of the players involved in the sector: States, logging and timber processing companies, representatives of local forest communities and environmental organisations and associations, as well as the main partners for development supporting the development of policies for sustainable forest management and biodiversity protection.

The issues

In the late 1990s, the Congo Basin countries began to develop forest policy reforms involving two main lines of action: consolidation of the status of forests designated as protected areas and an overhaul of the legal and regulatory framework governing logging activities, with the introduction of renewable long-term forestry concessions (15 to 40 years), to be managed under contracts mainly based on forest planning.

French cooperation partners, especially the AFD, have been supporting the introduction of the new legal framework by financing projects geared to the implementation of these management plans. The funding has mainly been used to support the forestry administration authorities and businesses in the sector. In 2011, the AFD conducted a capitalisation study on all French financing for sustainable forest management in the Congo Basin in the last twenty years. In parallel, the French Global Environment Facility (FGEF) conducted an external retrospective assessment of thirteen biodiversity projects for the Congo Basin to which it had given financial support.

How is climate change affecting these forests?

The conference, which follows a regional discussion workshop on the results of the European CoForChange project (2009-2012) organised by the CIRAD, will present the results of a research programme co-financed by the French National Research Agency (ANR) and the EU on trends in the Congo Basin’s forests in response to disturbances, and especially to the effects of past and future climate change. A forward-looking study on the outlook for the Congo Basin’s forests by the year 2040 will also be presented.

This roundtable will be based on the presentation of the IMF report on the economic perspectives for Sub-Saharan Africa and on AFD’s study on the export structures in the Franc zone. It will provide the opportunity to discuss the challenges that the countries in the region will have to face in the very near future, with a focus on two issues in particular: the management of their natural resources and their integration into world trade.

Click here to register

In the presence of:

• Roger Nord, Deputy Director, African Department, IMF
• François-Xavier Bellocq, Head of the Macroeconomic Analysis and Country Risk Division, AFD

The “Ideas for Development” cycle of conferences

From 29 May to 13 June, AFD will be organizing an “Ideas for Development” cycle of five interdisciplinary conferences on a range of topic areas. These events will provide a framework for discussions on development issues with numerous experts with a professional or personal interest in this field. They are intended as a new forum for debates and meetings between researchers, students, professionals from a wide range of fields, and the general public.

How can Africa’s “return to growth” and the good ratings that a number of its countries benefit from be understood? What do the macroeconomic accounts on the “new emerging countries” mean, as well as the use of statistical indicators for both those who govern and the population?

The aim of the “Politique Africaine” report on “bottom-up macroeconomics” is to shed light on these questions by adopting a socio-political approach. The authors of the publication analyze the practices surrounding macroeconomic objects and policies and highlight the emergence of new players, new instruments and new ways of grasping the reality; by doing so, they show how these new techniques drastically change socio-political relations and the balance of power within African societies and give these players the opportunity to attain new positions of power.

Macroeconomics is not understood here as the theoretical corpus of economists.

It is, on the contrary, considered as a platform for social struggles and conflicts between social groups and a material to understand the logics of the State, the mechanisms of power and the techniques of knowledge. The macroeconomics of globalized capitalism, thus addressed “from the bottom up”, is therefore seen as a mode of government and of subjugation.

Click here to register

This report will be presented by its two coordinators:

• Béatrice Hibou (CNRS, Sciences Po / CERI, FASOPO),
• Boris Samuel (SciencesPo CERI, FASOPO)

The presentation will be introduced and discussed by:

• Louis-Jacques Vaillant (Economist, Executive Director of External Relations and Partnerships, AFD)
• Jean-Bernard Véron (Economist, Editor of the review Afrique Contemporaine)

To be followed by a debate with the public.

► Consult the contents of the report and a summary of the articles (in French)
► Download the introduction (in French)

The “Ideas for Development” cycle of conferences

From 29 May to 13 June, AFD will be organizing an “Ideas for Development” cycle of five interdisciplinary conferences on a range of topic areas. These events will provide a framework for discussions on development issues with numerous experts with a professional or personal interest in this field. They are intended as a new forum for debates and meetings between researchers, students, professionals from a wide range of fields, and the general public.

Where and when?

The presentation of the report will take place at AFD, 5 rue Roland Barthes, Paris 75012, Wednesday 25 April 2012 from 10h00 to 12h00 (reception of participants from 09h30 onwards).

Click here to register.

As the number of places is extremely limited, this registration link will be disabled once the quota of places is reached.

The report

The 2012 edition of the GMR assesses the recent peaks and volatility in global food prices and is based on the following questions:

• What impact has an additional price hike had on the capacity of developing countries to make progress towards achieving the MDGs?
• How many individuals among poor communities have been unable to escape from poverty and hunger?
• How many individuals and children have had their personal growth and development permanently affected because their family was no longer able to feed them?
• How have countries reacted to the latest food price hikes in 2007/2008 and 2011 and what can they do to address prices that continue to rise and are increasingly volatile?

The report also gives details of the progress achieved for each MDG in developing countries. Three years away from the deadline to achieve the MDGs, the 2012 GMR comes to a mixed conclusion: some MDGs have already been achieved, while others will not be reached.

During this presentation, the authors of the report will present their findings and answer questions from the public on the link between food prices and the MDGs.

The authors will speak in English, but the public may speak in French. Due to logistical constraints, there will be no simultaneous translation available.

Find out more about the Millenium Development Goals (in French)

Manuela Carneiro Da Cunha, anthropologist

After her studies with Claude Levi-Strauss, Manuela Carneiro Da Cunha has successively held professorships in Anthropology at the Universities of Campinas, São Paulo and Chicago. Her work focuses on Amazonian ethnology, ethnic identity, the history of Indian populations and Brazilian laws concerning them, and on traditional knowledge and associated intellectual rights issues.

Since 1978, Manuela Carneiro Da Cunha has been actively involved in advocacy to support the rights of traditional populations. She is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences and the Third World Academy of Science, and has received the “Prix de la Francophonie” from the Académie Française.

“Indigenous knowledge: nature and contributions”

With the publication of “La Pensée Sauvage” by Claude Lévi-Strauss, just 50 years ago, the intellectual dignity of indigenous knowledge was recognised for the first time. Scientific positivism having run its course during the 20th century, the question remains as to what effects the crisis in the foundations of science might have on the appreciation of the knowledge of “others”.

Since the Rio Summit twenty years ago, the knowledge of indigenous peoples has acquired legal status and its importance is constantly increasing.  The value of indigenous knowledge and know-how in relation to climate change, biodiversity and agricultural diversity in particular has become widely acknowledged, while the political influence of indigenous organisations has considerably broadened.

The question to be addressed concerns the relationship between indigenous and academic knowledge. What should be the terms of these relationships, and what effects might they have on the very continuity of indigenous knowledge?