From 26 to 28 November 2024, ERAIFT participated in the “salon des sciences, technologies et innovations environnementales pour le développement durable”, organized by the “Institut de la Francophonie pour le Développement Durable (IFDD)” and the “Direction Générale de la Francophonie (DGF)”, as part of the  “Projet  de Déploiement des Technologies et Innovations Environnementales (PDTIE)”, at the National Museum of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in Kinshasa. ERAIFT in partnership with the Ecole de Faune de Garoua (EFG), intervenes in the PDTIE as a third party entity, implementing the project-entity in the DRC and Cameroon State and use of knowledge and skills of indigenous peoples and local communities in sustainable development, taking into account gender and gender equality»

Organized under the high supervision of H.E. Madame Deputy Minister of International Cooperation and La Francophonie of the DRC, this meeting was structured around exhibitions of innovations, conferences, debates, networking spaces, presentations of technological evidence and scientific discoveries. It was attended by young innovators, scientists and researchers, and coordinators of the PDTIE’s third-party entities from Cameroon, the Republic of the Congo and the DRC; officials of the IFDD, the “Organisation International de Francophonie (OIF)”, the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OEACP in french), the European Union; university rectors and higher education DGs (UK, UNIKIN and others); civil society representatives and members of the Government.

ERAIFT thanks the organizers for having been associated to this meeting of sharing innovations. ERAIFT expresses its gratitude to the European Union through the IFDD and OIF for the means made available to enable the implementation of its project-entity within the framework of the PDTIE.

Tuesday evening, 26 November, the President of the Board of Directors of ERAIFT, Mr Camille Paluku Kamate, together with the Director of ERAIFT, Professor Baudouin Michel, expressed their condolences to the family of the late Professor Yeo Kolo, Administrator of ERAIFT and Director of the Ecology Research Centre (CRE) of the NANGUI ABROGOUA University (CRE/UNA). In the presence of the family of the dead Professor Yeo Kolo and members of the CRE staff, the President of the Board of Directors and the Director paid homage to the illustrious deceased.

ERAIFT warmly thanks the family of the late Professor Yeo Kolo and the staff of the CRE for their welcome and support.

On Sunday 24 November at 15.30, the President of the Board of Directors of ERAIFT, Mr Camille Paluku Kamate, together with the Director of ERAIFT, Professor Baudouin Michel, paid their respects at the grave of the late Dr Martine Touao Kah, Director of ERAIFT, President of AFRIMAB and Honorary Director of the Centre de Recherche en Ecologie (CRE) at the NANGUI ABROGOUA University (CRE/UNA). In the presence of the deceased's family and members of the CRE staff, the Chairman of the Board of Directors and the Director paid tribute to the illustrious deceased.

ERAIFT warmly thanks the family of the late Dr Martine Touao Kah and the CRE staff for their welcome and support.

From 04 to 18 November 2024, a data collection mission at the Luki Biosphere Reserve (RB-Luki) was organized by the ERAIFT team in charge of implementing the project activities “Assessment of the value of the ecosystem services of the Luki Biosphere Reserve (EVASE_RBL)”. This project, led by the ERAIFT-INERA-University of Liège (Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech) consortium, aims to shed light on the economic value of ecosystem services in the Luki Biosphere Reserve (RBL), in the Democratic Republic of Congo.  This project is part of the program called: «Applied research in Ecology and Social Sciences of Forest Ecosystems of Central Africa (RESSAC) », under the funding of the European Union (EU).

The main objective of this mission was to collect data on ecosystem services provided by RBL. Specifically, it was about: (1) meeting with the responsible of the reserve to discuss and obtain information on ecosystem services management, (2) Conduct surveys and focus group within local communities to identify the high-value economic, social and cultural ecosystem services offered by RBL; and (3) Make observations and interpretations in the field to verify the information obtained.

This data collection mission was made possible thanks to the support of the RESSAC program, implemented by the CIFOR-ICRAF consortium and the financial assistance of the European Union, to which ERAIFT expresses its deep gratitude.

ERAIFT Director and Rector of IFA-YANGAMBI, Professor Baudouin Michel, attended the inauguration on Saturday 16 November of the new cassava processing unit in MIUNGU, 26 km from Mbanza-Ngungu on the road to Kamba, in the province of Kongo-Central. This impressive investment in the cassava value chain was financed, built and implemented by promoter Ir Jean Waku, a native of the village. It should be noted that contact with the promoter was made as part of the VCA4D study of the cassava value chain, funded by the European Union and coordinated by AGRINATURA and NRI.

ERAIFT and IFA-YANGAMBI congratulate the promoter Ir Jean Waku for this magnificent initiative and wish him great success and wide dissemination. ERAIFT and IFA-YANGAMBI thank the promoter Ir Jean Waku for his invitation.

On Wednesday 13 November, in the meeting room of the European Union Delegation in Kinshasa, ERAIFT Director and Rector of IFA-YANGAMBI presented the summary of the VCA4D study on the cassava value chain in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), carried out by Baudouin Michel (Team Leader, agro-economist), Professor Lyna Mukwa (national expert), Professor Gaby Mola Motya (sociologist, President of the FIB, Administrator of ERAIFT), Luis Alejandro Taborda Andrade (CIRAD, environmentalist), Tran Thierry (CIAT environmentalist), Professor Jonas Ngoy (IFA-YANGAMBI), Patrick Minyangu (FAO agro-economist).

The PMU of the AGRINATURA VCA4D project, INTPA F3 officials and Dr Jean-Pierre Busogoro were also present in Brussels and Kinshasa. This VCA4D ‘cassava’ analysis in the DRC began more than a year ago and has been the subject of extensive study and training.

ERAIFT and IFA-YANGAMBI and the entire VCA4D ‘cassava’ team in the DRC thank the EU, AGRINATURA and NRI Greenwich University for their confidence.

The Rector of the IFA-YANGAMBI and DIRECTOR of ERAIFT, Baudouin Michel, chaired the 14th Management Council of the Pendjari National Park in Benin on Monday 11 November. The President congratulated the PMU on the results achieved in a complex security context and thanked the members of the Management Council for their positive and much appreciated contributions to the debates.

Professor Baudouin Michel thanks the African Parks Network, the Presidency and the Government of Benin for their trust and support.