Gabon’s government has signed a landmark agreement with a coalition of donors to protect 34,000 square km (13,000 square miles) of its Congo Basin rainforests. The initiative, known as “Gabon Infini,” will combine $94 million in donor funding from organisations such as the Global Environment Facility and the Bezos Earth Fund with $86 million in government financing over ten years.
The plan will support the creation of new national parks, combat elephant poaching, and expand eco-tourism through a “Project Finance for Permanence” (PFP) model, which links the release of funds to specific government policy reforms.
The approach is gaining traction globally; Brazil announced a comparable deal on Monday to protect nearly 243,000 square km of the Amazon rainforest, while Kenya and Namibia are also moving toward their own agreements, Reuters reported.
Gabon serves as a vital ecological stronghold within the Congo Basin. Almost 90% of its land area is covered by tropical rainforest, home to more than half of the world’s remaining African forest elephants and a quarter of surviving western lowland gorillas.
The new plan follows a “debt-for-nature swap” completed just weeks before the 2023 military coup, through which Gabon refinanced $500 million in loans using a new bond that allocates some funds to coastal conservation.
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Financial concerns, however, have resurfaced. A draft 2026 budget approved in September aims to nearly double government spending next year. Credit rating agencies have warned that this could push Gabon’s debt-to-GDP ratio to nearly 90%, up from 73% at the end of last year.
Former minister Maurice Ntossui Allogo, who has been overseeing the Infini initiative, described Tuesday’s Letter of Intent as “a decisive milestone” for Gabon’s conservation efforts.
Ryan Demmy Bidwell of The Nature Conservancy (TNC), which has partnered with the government, said Gabon’s significance lies in the fact that almost 90% of the country remains intact forest.
He added that the Infini project will establish new national parks and other protected areas, ensuring that 30% of the country’s rainforests are designated for protection, up from about 15% today. “We hope that Gabon will serve as a model for others in the Congo Basin and elsewhere in Africa,” Bidwell said.
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Image Credit: Bloomberg
