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afrol.com, 8 July - The Board of Directors of the African Development Fund (ADF) approved yesterday a Technical Assistance Fund grant of approximately US$ 3 million to finance the regional environmental information management project a multinational project which involves the six member countries of the Congo Basin: Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Central African Republic and Democratic Republic of Congo. The objective of the project is to contribute to the conservation and sustainable management of the biological diversity. It particularly seeks to improve the planning and management of the natural resources of the Congo Basin, with emphasis on biodiversity conservation and providing the various partners with relevant environmental information on needs they have identified. The project will involve the development of a regional computerised systems of forest information management system for Central Africa as well as the development of instruments to plan, analyse and disseminate information on urban and sub-urban development. It will also involve national capacity building, technical assistance for compiling reliable information as well as training for National Management and Coordination Units staff and National Environmental Information Networks. The grant will be used to finance part of the foreign exchange and part of the local currency costs of the project whose total cost is estimated at approximately US$ 19 million. The project will help build the operational capacity of the member agencies of national networks and be a major instrument for planning and applying governmental strategies for forest and environmental management. Furthermore, by facilitating the development and exchange of information, the project will contribute to regional integration of the countries of the Congo Basin.
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