Professor Baudouin Michel, Rector of IFA-YANGAMBI, Director of ERAIFT and African Parks Network (APN) Special Envoy attended the African Parks Congo (APC) Board of Directors meeting in Nagero (Haut-Uele Province) in the presence of the Director General of ICCN, Mr. Milan Ngangay Yves.

This APC board is chaired by the Minister of State, Mr François-Xavier de Donnea. ICCN and APN have been developing a successful public-private partnership for the management of Garamba National Park (GNP) since 2005.

Cooperation potential in the scientific research domain was identified on this occasion. The EU, USAID, USFWS, the Okapi Fund and all the public and private technical and financial partners were warmly thanked for their support to the GNP.

Professor Baudouin MICHEL of the University of Liège, Director of ERAIFT and Rector of IFA Yangambi, held a conference in Brussels on Wednesday, 11 January 2023 on the theme of the Democratic Republic of the Congo-paradoxes and urgent and realistic agro-economic transitions. A total of 140 people attended the conference, either in physically or by videoconference.

The speaker's presentation focused firstly on the issues of food insecurity and deficit, territorial disparities and inequity in the distribution of value added in value chains; secondly on the agri-food system in the Five Economic Growth Poles, and thirdly on the conditions necessary for a sustainable agri-economic transition.

To overcome this agricultural paradox, Professor Baudouin Michel proposes a number of solutions in 5 points: (1) the formulation of an effective agricultural policy, (2) the improvement of added value through a complete untaxation of agricultural activities, (3) the opening up of the territory, (4) the combination of vertical (VCA4D) and horizontal (landscape-NATURAFRICA approach) approaches as well as the systemic approach, and (5) the promotion of PPPs in the landscape.

ERAIFT thanks International Parnerships InfoPoint for the invitation. It also expresses its gratitude to the European Union for the support and renewed confidence.

The ERAIFT Management informs that Mr. Emmanuel HEUSE, Director of Fund Raising at ERAIFT, has decided to end his mandate on December 31, 2022. The Management of ERAIFT sincerely thanks Mr. Emmanuel HEUSE for the excellent results obtained during his mandate and wishes him a fruitful continuation of his career.

 Done in Kinshasa, on 15/01/2023

The Director of ERAIFT,

Baudouin MICHEL

Presently, the 40 students of the regional masters' 3rd cohort are ending their course in semester 3 for specialisation (July to December 2022). Four disciplines are concerned, including 3 professional masters degrees and a research master in 4 different professions: Management of Protected Areas and Biosphere Reserves (GAP/GRB), Forest Management Techniques (TAF) and Integrated Management of Tropical Forests and Lands (AGIFT).

Remember that this specialization is made possible by the regional mobility provided in this programme. Indeed, the 17 GAP/GRB Masters were trained at the Ecole de Faune de Garoua (EFG, Cameroon); the 11 TAF Masters completed part of their practical training in a forestry company in the North of the Republic of Congo, within the CIB OLAM Agri company. The 12 AGIFT research Masters continued their studies in DRC, either in the Luki Biosphere Reserve or in the Mangrove Marine Park (RAMSAR site).

January to June 2023 is the final stretch of the programme. Indeed, all these 40 learners have been admitted to an academic internship to carry out their final year research in several countries. Eight GAP masters students have been admitted to an internship at the Southern African Wildlife College (SAWC, South Africa), within the partnership that exists between this prestigious South-African institution and ERAIFT.

Public defenses of these research results are to be held in June 2023, online or in class, with an international and interdisciplinary jury. The 3rd cohort, consisting of 40 students from 8 countries, will complete its cursus at the end of June 2023.

The third cohort's departure for the internship frees up space for the start of the fifth cohort, which begins its course in February 2023. Thus the 3rd, 4th and 5th cohorts will run in parallel until June 2023, giving 129 students registered in the Master's programme at ERAIFT (in addition to the 26 doctoral students registered on the role).

ERAIFT expresses its sincere thanks to the European Union for funding this training programme and to AGRINATURA for supporting ERAIFT in the implementation of the programme.