Eni has signed an agreement with Côte d’Ivoire’s Ministry of Water and Forests to launch a project to preserve and restore forest areas in the country. The initiative, which follows the feasibility study launched in September 2022 with the participation of local stakeholders, will cover 14 forests, identified in close cooperation with the competent authorities, over an area of 155,000 hectares, in the Lagunes and Comoé regions, located respectively in the south and south-east of the country.
The agreement focuses on two areas of intervention. The first aims to conserve the remaining existing forest heritage and biodiversity by strengthening the control measures already in place to prevent the risk of deforestation, fires and poaching, and it is based on an extensive awareness-raising and training program involving local communities and relevant institutions. The second foresees the restoration of some 130,000 hectares of forest area through the planting of some 12 million trees of local species in abandoned and degraded areas, accompanied by agro-forestry initiatives to promote more sustainable farming practices and improve the productivity of cultivated land for the benefit of local farming communities.
The project, defined in partnership with the Ivorian authorities, is in line with the country’s National Development Plans and the Ivorian strategy to reduce deforestation and related emissions, including by leveraging forest area restoration. It also aligns with Eni’s decarbonization plan, contributing to the achievement of zero net upstream emissions (Scope 1 and 2) in the Baleine development.