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WORLDWIDE
FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS
Logging
Industry Threatens To Destroy Rich African Forests
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Forest Networking a Project of Forests.org
http://forests.org/ -- Forest Conservation Archives
http://forests.org/web/ -- Discuss Forest
Conservation
08/18/00
OVERVIEW
& COMMENTARY
Forest
rich Cameroon and Gabon are undergoing a full-fledged logging
boom. The type of forest management being
practiced--extremely
intensive
industrial harvest by transnational corporations, mostly
for log
export--is not likely to lead to sustainability of either
forest
products or ecosystems. A body of
enforced international law
that
cracks down on transnational, predatory logging, and other
industrial
ecosystem destruction, is critical to protect and sustain
the
Earth's ancient and elegant biological heritage.
g.b.
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Title: Logging Industry Threatens To Destroy Rich
African Forests
Source: The World Resources Institute
Distributed via Africa News Online,
(www.africanews.org).
Status: Copyright 2000, contact source for
permission to reprint
Date: August 11, 2000
By: Emmanuel Koro
Washington
DC - They rapidly extracted too much timber from our
forests,
only to pack their bags when there was nothing left.
This
might be the sad story that forest-rich Cameroon and Gabon may be
forced
to tell a few years from now, if they do not take urgent steps
to
ensure that foreign-owned logging companies operate legally and
engage
in sustainable exploitation of their forests.
Based
on two recent reports on the forests of Cameroon and Gabon, it
appears
that continued lack of direct local investment of profits made
by
these companies, coupled with their unsustainable logging
activities,
threatens to make the two Central African countries
financially
and environmentally bankrupt.
"In
Cameroon, the government recently made some of these companies pay
heavy
penalties because they violated logging regulations," said
Henriette
Bikie of Global Forest Watch Cameroon. For example, some of
them
were logging in areas which were not allocated to them."
Forestry/2
Among the leading logging companies and their subsidiaries
in
Cameroon and Gabon are predominantly European, particularly French-
owned.
In Cameroon they include: Thanry (CIBC, SAB, SEBC, CFC,
Prenant),
Bollore (La forestiere de Campo, SIBAF), Coron and Alpi
(Alpicam,
Grumcam). In Gabon the five largest concession holders are
all
foreign-owned: Rougier-Gabon, La Compagnie Forestiere du Gabon
(CFG),
Leroy-Gabon, La Compagnie Equatoriale de Bois (CEB) and
Lutexfo/Soforga.
"The timber extraction has been increasing rapidly
recently
with little control mechanism in place," said Jean-Gael
Collomb,
Global Forest Watch (GFW), Central Africa Project Manager
and one
of the authors of the reports. "Little has been done to ensure
that
the logging industry will benefit these countries in the long
term.
What we see are short- term benefits to foreign companies and
individuals."
About
76 percent of Cameroon's forests have either been logged or
allocated
as logging concessions. Less than a fifth of the country's
unprotected
forests, mostly in central and eastern Cameroon, remains
free
from logging.
In
Gabon, fewer than 10 percent of Gabon's forests were allocated as
logging
concessions in 1957. In 1997, more than half were allocated as
logging
concessions. More than 90 percent of Gabon's log production is
exported.
Forestry/3
The
reports produced by Global Forest Watch report say, that with
declining
oil revenues in Cameroon and Gabon, the pressure to continue
exploiting
the world's second largest tract of tropical rain forests
will
continue to grow. Global Forest Watch, an initiative of the World
Resources
Institute (WRI) is an independent network of about 75
organizations
working in eight countries. It monitors and maps
logging,
mining, road-building, and other developments in the world's
last
great tracts of intact natural forest. It was launched by the WRI
early
this year to save the world's remaining intact natural forests
found
mostly in the Amazon Basin, Central Africa, Canada, Southeast
Asia
and Russia.
In
Africa, it focuses its work in the Congo Basin, particularly in
Cameroon
and Gabon, which is second only to the Amazon in terms of the
size of
its tropical rainforests.
Henriette
Bikie of Global Forest Watch Cameroon said, "In the future,
Global
Forest Watch will consider expanding its activities in other
African
countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo."
Forestry/4
The
GWF's Gabon report, "A first look at logging in Gabon" and that on
Cameroon,
"An overview of logging in Cameroon" were both released at
ceremonies
held in Libreville and Yaounde, on separate dates last
June.
During the Yaounde ceremony, the permanent secretary of the
Ministry
of Environment and Forestry (MINEF), Mpoule Bala Lazare,
endorsed
GFW's work in the country.
In
Gabon, logging has rapidly expanded in area and volume and laws are
being
poorly applied.
The GFW
report on Gabon says only five out of the 200 logging
companies
have a management plan. The government initiated a Forestry
Law
project in 1996, following the recommendations of the National
Interministerial
Industrialization Commission and pressure from the
International
Monetary Fund and the World Bank who are the country's
creditors.
Gabon's current Forestry Law dates back to 1982 and it is
yet to
be reformed. To date, Global Forest Watch partners in Gabon
have
not been informed of any changes made to the forestry reform
project.
According to the report, two-thirds of Cameroon's logging
industry
is foreign-owned and it is not clear that the remaining third
is
owned by real Cameroonians.
Forestry/5
"Although
Cameroonians have logging concessions or titles, they
subcontract
established foreign companies to do the actual logging
since
they cannot afford to buy the machinery to run the industry,"
said
Bikie. "This results in a situation whereby the concession-holder
would
ask for a very small amount compared to what the subcontracted
company
would make." In 1997, 221 companies and individuals held
concessions
in Gabon. Of these, only 13 companies held 50 percent of
the
total area which is equivalent to almost one quarter of Gabon's
total
forest cover. Although these companies are registered in Gabon,
they
are controlled by European companies.
In 1980
there were 106 logging companies registered in Cameroon. The
number
increased to 177 in 1990 and shot up to 479 in 1998. Cameroon's
forests
shrunk by two million hectares between 1980 and 1995. As
logging
operations continue to swell up, it is not clear by how much
its
forest had shrunk by year 2000.
The GFW
report confirms that logging companies in Cameroon continue to
violate
legislation that calls for sustainable logging by felling the
wrong
timber species, logging protected timber species, mislabeling
logs
and cutting under-sized trees.
Forestry/6
"Many
of these violations result from the low logistical capacity of
the
Ministry of Environment and Forestry (MINEF)," said Bikie. "In
1992,
MINEF stopped hiring staff due to lack of donor funds."
Cameroon's
political will to address forestry management problems was
highlighted
by its president, Paul Biya in 1999, when he hosted the
first
Heads of State Summit on Conservation and Management of
Central
African Forests. The Yaounde Declaration was issued at this
meeting
and five central African nations pledged to improve national
and
regional forestry management. Bikie said the follow-up meeting
will be
held next month.
In
1994, Cameroon introduced a new logging legislation which promises
to
promote better stewardship of the country's forests. This
legislation
was introduced after the World Bank made it a condition
for
Cameroon to qualify for the Bank's funding for the country's
structural
adjustment program. Praised by the World Bank as a
potential
model for the Central African region, Cameroon's forest law
is not
being enforced successfully since the Government's forestry
inspectors
are too few and do not have transport to inspect the
operations
of logging companies.
Forestry/7
Bikie
said, "This is just one of the many complex reasons for non-
enforcement
of the country's forest law."
Ironically,
these inspectors ask logging operators for transport in
order
to go and inspect their operations, raising questions about the
objectivity
and strictness of their inspection.
Exposing
inadequacies in Cameroon's concession-inspection and law
enforcement,
the GFW report noted that in the five major forested
provinces,
there was on average, one Ministry of Environment and
Forests
(MINEF) field agent responsible for inspecting 5,000 hectares
of
concession.
In the
East province alone, in 1998-99, one MINEF field agent was
responsible
for an average of 21,000 hectares of concession.
Gabon
is experiencing similar concession inspection problems. On
average,
a Gabonese Ministry of Water and Forests agent oversees 864
square
kilometers of logging concessions.
Forestry/8
"In
1997, only 100 agents were available to monitor and inspect 332
logging
concessions covering 86,000 square kilometers, an area roughly
the
size of Australia," said the GFW report. "The logging industry
employs
about 55,000 people in Cameroon."
Although
Cameroon is pocketing US$60 million from annual timber export
taxes,
foreign companies' profits from this booming industry remain a
closely
guarded secret.
"It
is difficult to know how much profit these companies are making,"
admits
Collomb. "Cameroon and Gabon do not have laws that require
these
companies to be audited, a situation that would expose their
annual
profits."
Contact:
Adlai Amor, Media Director Tel: (+1-202) 729-7736 Email:
aamor@wri.org
Or Henriette Bikie, GFW - Cameroon Tel: (+237) 205 097
Email:
gfwc@gcnet.cm
* Adlai
J. Amor Media Director World Resources Institute 10 G Street,
NE,
Washington, DC 20002, USA Tel: (+202) 729 7736 * Fax: (+202) 729
7707
Email: aamor@wri.org Website: http://www.wri.org
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