Media release - April 11, 2007
Social chaos and environmental havoc in the Democratic Republic of Congo are being caused by international logging companies, according to a new investigation by Greenpeace. Published as the World Bank board prepares to meet in Washington, ”Carving Up the Congo” reveals that Bank efforts to control the logging industry are failing while the world’s second largest rainforest is being sold off under the illusion that logging alleviates poverty. The group is calling for logging titles to be cancelled and for an existing moratorium to be extended until proper conditions are in place.
The Congo is the world's second largest forest after the Amazon,
and one of the planet's essential defenses against global warming.
Global emissions from tropical deforestation alone contribute up to
25% of total annual human-induced CO2 emissions to the atmosphere.
It is estimated that forest clearance in the DRC will release up to
34.4 billion tons of CO2 by 2050, roughly equivalent to six years
of U.S. emissions.
"Time is running out for Congo's rainforests. The international
logging industry operating in the country is out of control. Unless
the World Bank helps the DRC to stop the sell off of these
rainforests, they will soon be under the chainsaws," said
Greenpeace International Africa campaign specialist, Susanne
Breitkopf.
In spite of a national moratorium on logging titles since 2002,
100 logging contracts covering 58,000 square miles of rainforest-an
area the size of Illinois-have been issued to the logging industry.
Much of the rainforest already allocated for logging is critical
for conservation and for the survival of our closest animal
relatives, the bonobo and chimpanzee.
40 million people depend on the DRC's rainforest, and few
actually benefit from logging. The World Bank admits that in the
last three years, none of the forest area taxes paid by companies
have reached forest communities. Greenpeace has obtained contracts
between logging companies and communities. Some offer gifts such as
bags of salt and bottles of beer, worth less than $100, in exchange
for logging rights worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Promises
to build schools or hospitals are rarely fulfilled, and
intimidation tactics are used when communities protest against the
companies.
"These contracts are a shameful relic of colonial times.
Millions of acres of the Congo rainforest have been traded away for
a song, while logging companies and their taxes do next to nothing
for local development," concluded Breitkopf.
Greenpeace is calling for the cancellation of all logging titles
issued since May 2002. In addition, the international
environmental group is calling for the moratorium on new logging
titles to be extended and enforced until the logging sector is
reformed and a land-use plan that includes the participation of
local communities is fully in place.
Interviews and video available upon request.
Photos are available at:
http://usaphoto.greenpeace.org/media/forest/congo/
VVPR info: CONTACT: Steve Smith, Greenpeace, (202) 319-2432; (202) 465-5352 (cell)