Heads of state from the Amazon, Congo and Borneo-Mekong basins are meeting in the Congolese capital, Brazzaville: leaders hope to reach an accord on sound management of valuable rainforest ecoystems, but civil society actors believe the problems faced by local populations may be ignored.
The host of the meeting, the president of the Republic of Congo, Denis Sassou Nguesso, said the summit constitutes a final "decisive step" before the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development which will take place in Rio de Janeiro in 2012. According to organisers, the Brazzaville summit will also allow the reinforcing of South-South cooperation; the Congolese environment minister, Henri Djombo, told reporters the objective was to ask all the countries involved to form a united bloc.
Worldwide worries
Ahead of the summit, forest policy in several countries came under the spotlight. In Brazil, the government is considering a controversial revision to ...