The results contradict the conclusions of a government-appointed
technical working group, which previously recommended a reduction
to 4.4 million hectares. Today's announcement comes after the
government examined a series of appeals from logging companies
whose contracts were to be cancelled. Nineteen out of 87 appeals
were successful.
"It is a positive sign that the government did not yield
completely to industry pressure. The contract cancellations now
need to be implemented. We hope that the Congolese government will
focus on protecting our forests and on putting in place a
participatory national land use plan" said René Ngongo, Forest
Policy Advisor for Greenpeace Africa. "Hopefully, the cancellation
of the rejected logging contracts will create momentum to develop
alternatives to industrial logging. However, the government must
not yield to the delaying tactics of the forest industry, which is
using the current international financial crisis to demand the
elimination of taxes in the DRC, thus undermining agreed efforts to
clean up the forest sector." (1)
Greenpeace warns however that many challenges remain, in
particular with regard to weak governance in the DRC and the lack
of control in the forestry sector. "It is unclear how the
government will enforce the cancellations of contracts in the
field, and how the operations of the approved logging concessions
will be controlled," explained Ngongo.
The review process has been widely criticised, and an
Independent Observer appointed by the government at the behest of
the World Bank has acknowledged that legal criteria as basic as
logging within permit boundaries were not verified (2). A 2002
moratorium on the issuing of new logging titles was blatantly
violated, and a new Forest Law introduced in 2002 has to date not
been implemented. Multinationals such as the Swiss Danzer Group and
Liechtenstein-based Nordsüdtimber Group have obtained hundreds of
thousands of hectares of forests under the pretext of "re-mapping"
and "relocating" old permits (3).
Greenpeace urges the DRC government to maintain the moratorium
on the allocation of new forest concessions until a national
participatory land-use plan has been completed and meaningful
forest governance is in place.
Local communities are angry and disappointed because giant trees
are taken from their forests and nothing but destruction is left
behind. The people of Africa stand to lose the most from climate
impacts. The government needs to save the Congo forest not only for
the sake of the global climate, but for the benefit of the
Congolese people who depend on it and who are suffering from its
continued plunder.
Other contacts: • Michelle Medeiros, Forest Campaigner, Greenpeace International, +31 6 46162041• Susanne Breitkopf, Forest Campaigner, Greenpeace International, +1 202 390 5586• Rene Ngongo, Forest Policy Advisor for Greenpeace Africa, +243 998334500
Notes: (1) Conference held by the Congolese Minister of Environment, Mr Jose Endundo, at the Rotary Club of Kinshasa on the subject of environment and the management of the forest patrimony of the Democratic Republic of Congo, at the French Circle in Kinshasa on 9 January 2009 (2)Report by the Independent Observer regarding the work of the inter ministerial commission on the conversation of old forest titles, 20 October 2008 [With financing from the World Bank, the government appointed the World Resources Insitute (WRI) and the Belgian-based consultancy AGRECO to act as an independent observer to the review www.rdc-conversiontitresforestiers.org ] (3)Logging Sector Briefing for the Democratic Republic of Congo: DRC logging review: The carving up of the Congo continues . http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/reports/DRC-logging-sector-briefing. In "Conning the Congo", issued in July 2008, Greenpeace exposed the weaknesses of a process that failed to address issues of fundamental importance such as tax evasion and non-compliance with fiscal regulations. http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/reports/conning-the-congo