Country Brief

As a developing country with a growing population, Gabon cannot commit to an absolute reduction in its GHG emissions, but rather to controlling them as part of its development. With an 88% forest cover, Gabon plays a role of carbon "sink" by absorbing more than 4 times more CO2 than it emits. Nonetheless, the country does not wish to limit its climate policy to the simple conservation of forests, with the help of international financing mechanisms. This rent-based logic would hamper its economic and social development by subjugating it to external mechanisms that unrelated to the real economy. This is why Gabon's commitment under the Paris Agreement relate exclusively to its GHG emissions excluding biomass carbon storage.