African countries work to preserve forests

Brazzaville - The Angolan Minister of the Environment, Ana de Carvalho, said on Wednesday that African countries are working to increasingly protect forests, as an important resource for living beings.

The minister was speaking to the Angolan press, on the sidelines of the first International Conference on Afforestation and Reforestation, which takes place from 2 to 5 July in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo.

She said that joint discussions around the protection of forests are fundamental, as States such as Angola have created measures to prevent the indiscriminate felling of trees. 'At this time, in Angola we suffer a lot from fires, a cultural aspect for the practice of agriculture, ending up affecting biodiversity and soil degradation', she said. 

In Angola, she pointed out, almost 50% of the land is made up of forests, but reforestation is needed, one of the themes of this Brazzaville conference. With this event, he stressed, the experience of Congo in terms of reforestation will be taken, as in Angola the coast is being reforested with the planting of mangroves, in addition to work with forest conservation areas. 

For the Angolan ambassador to the Republic of Congo, Vicente Muanda, the conference is of great importance, because Angola has a particular way of managing forests and exploiting these resources. She made it known that, sometimes, elements of Congo carry out indiscriminate logging and illegal hunting in the area of the Maiombe Forest, Cabinda.

In this regard, she stressed that it is necessary for States to coordinate to maintain conserved forests for the sustainability of living beings. The international conference on Afforestation and Reforestation discusses various topics related to the defense of forests, in an event promoted by the Government of the Republic of Congo.