African timber producers seek consumer approval to boost exports
Copyright 2000 Agence France Presse
October 11, 2000
By Joseph Gouala
African timber producers preparing for their annual conference admitted Wednesday they have to win the trust of consumers around the world to breathe new life into their ailing industry.
Speaking ahead of the annual meeting of the African Timber Organization (OAB), top OAB official Emmanuel Ze Meka said a certification system was being worked on by member countries that would guarantee consumers that African wood came from properly managed forests.
The OAB conference, which will be attended by all 13 members, starts on Thursday.
Ministers have gathered beforehand from African countries, mainly tropical nations in the centre and west of the continent, which have the second biggest forest area in the world after the Amazon.
The organization has been hit recently by campaigns by environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to persuade consumers to boycott tropical wood products.
NGOs have been active in timber producing regions around the world to highlight alleged illicit logging they say is wrecking the environment. The European Union is meanwhile committed to financing forestry conservation work in several countries.
Meka said the anti-logging campaigns had yet to affect the volume of exports.
"Exports dropped 30 percent two years ago. This was caused by the financial crisis in South East Asia and not by campaigns by Western non-governmental organizations," he said.
The OAB faces an uphill battle to get a bigger chunk of the timber market dominated by South east Asia and South America.
Africa holds 20 percent of the tropical wood export market, while the other two main players hold the remaining 80 percent.
The production of tropical undressed timber was 133.4 million metric cubes in 1999, less than half of one percent more than the previous year.
Officials say the key stumbling block is the lack of competitivity and production capability in the finished wood products sector, a key aspect of the industry but one which represents a pitiful one percent of total African world exports.
"This is negligible. Africans want to make up for lost time," Meka said.
The EU on September 15 announced the donation of almost 20 million dollars in funds for conservation and sustainable management of seven areas, including several national parks, under a Central African Forest Ecosystems programme.
The scheme, launched in 1992 and run in conjunction with local authorities, covers forest management in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Sao Tome and Principe.
In addition to these nations, the OAB includes Angola, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria and Tanzania.