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The Problem
Children sit on logs in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. More than 21 million hectares of the nation's rainforest are now allocated to the logging industry.
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Logging in the Congo rainforest is different to logging in the Amazon in that the logging industry focuses on a dozen species of high commercial value which represents about 90 percent of timber production. The main species taken are afromosia, wengé, limba, padouk, tola, iroko, sipo, sapelli, tiama, bosse, acajou and dibetou.
By "taking the best and leaving the rest" vast areas of forest are opened up and the creation of a network of tracks created to remove the valuable timber allows access to the remaining forest for poachers that target many of the rainforest's rare and endangered species (see below: bush meat). Several tree species have been so intensively logged that they are now considered threatened by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
A dozen logging companies currently control more than half of all the logging permits, covering an area of some 10 million hectares. These companies are from Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Lebanon and the DRC. Due to the distance from the rainforest to the sea, lack of adequate roads and ports and political instability, the forest of the DRC has until now been relatively spared by industrial logging. But now that political stability has improved and the roads and ports are being rebuilt, the assault on the rainforest is likely to increase.
Back in 2002, a new Forestry Code was adopted that requires a portion of the taxes paid by logging companies to be redistributed to local and provincial governments. This was to ensure that logging would benefit the local communities. However, our research indicates that up until now local administrations haven't received any money, although loggers claim to have been paying it for years. Local authorities sometimes aren't aware of the amounts due, and local residents aren't even aware of their right to benefit from logging.
Government agencies and public services responsible for the implementation and overseeing of forest protection are severely lacking in capacity.
A head of department makes less than €2 a day. Remote forest service staff are left without equipment, with no access to a car and out of contact with the distant capital Kinshasa.
It's hardly surprising in these circumstances that corruption has flourished. According to Transparency International, DRC has the eighth highest level of corruption in the world.
The Forestry Code also requires "social responsibility contracts" specifying that infrastructure and services must be provided by logging companies for the benefit of local communities. The construction and maintenance of roads, construction, renovation and equipping of health centres or schools, transport of residents and goods, etc. But with no effective government in forest areas, companies frequently break their promises.
The logging companies obligations are always insignificant in comparison with the value of the wood they remove. Once the forest has been plundered, the little assistance the community got disappears down the logging roads along with their livelihood.
The evidence is clear : the logging sector's contribution to poverty reduction is non-existent. Valuable timber is taken whilst local communities sink even deeper into poverty.
A rapidly growing population combined with harsh economic conditions have rendered many Congolese dependent on bush meat, both as a source of protein and income. It's estimated that the DRC consumes between 1.1 and 1.7 million tons of bush meat every year.
Industrial logging contributes to the problem by cutting roads through the forest that are then used by the poachers. By giving poachers access to remote areas of forest, logging contributes to "empty forest" syndrome: some plant life remains, but most animals are killed.
By "taking the best and leaving the rest" vast areas of forest are opened up and the creation of a network of tracks created to remove the valuable timber allows access to the remaining forest for poachers that target many of the rainforest's rare and endangered species (see below: bush meat). Several tree species have been so intensively logged that they are now considered threatened by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
A dozen logging companies currently control more than half of all the logging permits, covering an area of some 10 million hectares. These companies are from Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Lebanon and the DRC. Due to the distance from the rainforest to the sea, lack of adequate roads and ports and political instability, the forest of the DRC has until now been relatively spared by industrial logging. But now that political stability has improved and the roads and ports are being rebuilt, the assault on the rainforest is likely to increase.
Back in 2002, a new Forestry Code was adopted that requires a portion of the taxes paid by logging companies to be redistributed to local and provincial governments. This was to ensure that logging would benefit the local communities. However, our research indicates that up until now local administrations haven't received any money, although loggers claim to have been paying it for years. Local authorities sometimes aren't aware of the amounts due, and local residents aren't even aware of their right to benefit from logging.
Workers in the 'Coordination Provinciale pour la protection de l'environnement', an office which handles environmental affairs in the region. Officials have none of the necessary equipment to oversee the logging industry.
© Greenpeace/Philip Reynaers
A head of department makes less than €2 a day. Remote forest service staff are left without equipment, with no access to a car and out of contact with the distant capital Kinshasa.
It's hardly surprising in these circumstances that corruption has flourished. According to Transparency International, DRC has the eighth highest level of corruption in the world.
The Forestry Code also requires "social responsibility contracts" specifying that infrastructure and services must be provided by logging companies for the benefit of local communities. The construction and maintenance of roads, construction, renovation and equipping of health centres or schools, transport of residents and goods, etc. But with no effective government in forest areas, companies frequently break their promises.
The logging companies obligations are always insignificant in comparison with the value of the wood they remove. Once the forest has been plundered, the little assistance the community got disappears down the logging roads along with their livelihood.
The evidence is clear : the logging sector's contribution to poverty reduction is non-existent. Valuable timber is taken whilst local communities sink even deeper into poverty.
Bush Meat
A rapidly growing population combined with harsh economic conditions have rendered many Congolese dependent on bush meat, both as a source of protein and income. It's estimated that the DRC consumes between 1.1 and 1.7 million tons of bush meat every year.
Industrial logging contributes to the problem by cutting roads through the forest that are then used by the poachers. By giving poachers access to remote areas of forest, logging contributes to "empty forest" syndrome: some plant life remains, but most animals are killed.
