The funds are designated for the Programme for Conservation and Rational Utilization of Forest Ecosystems in Central Africa, known as ECOFAC, which helps preserve some 2.3 million square kilometers (890,000 square miles) of African tropical forest in the Congo basin.

ECOFAC, begun in 1992 after the Rio environmental summit, attempts to conserve forests in the Congo basin, considered the planet's second largest green lung after the Amazon.

ECOFAC covers forests in six countries: Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and the archipelago of Sao Tome and Principe.

During the signing ceremony, Louis Michel, the European commissioner for development and humanitarian aid, said ECOFAC's area would be enlarged to include the forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The DRC's inclusion in ECOFAC nearly doubles the concerned forestry area.

The agreement with the EU was signed by ECOFAC coordinator Casimir Oye Mba, also Gabon's minister of planning.

The investment will pave the way for a fourth phase of preservation in the Congo basin's forests.

The EU already invested more than 70 million euros (85 million dollars) in the first three phases.

Ten regional countries have also agreed to protect the Congo basin's forests in a treaty signed in 2005 in Brazzaville.

In 2002 the United States launched an international partnership for the sustainable development of the Congo basin's forests, which groups financial institutions and non governmental organisations.

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