Soon Africa's gorillas will only survive in wildlife parks and zoos if the current forest destruction isn't halted.
The African Forest of the Great Apes, a spectacular lowland
rainforestof Central Africa, stretches across regions of Cameroon,
the CentralAfrican Republic, Congo Brazzaville, the Democratic
Republic of Congo,Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. It is second in size
only to the Amazonrainforest and is the most species-rich place in
Africa.
Africa has already lost two-thirds of its ancient forests in the
lastthirty years, industrial logging threatens most of what
remains. In aslittle as five to ten years Africa's apes, the
gorillas, chimpanzeesand bonobos, will disappear with the last
undisturbed forest areas.
European-owned timber companies are complicit in that
destruction, as revealed in a new
Greenpeace Report. And France, by accepting timber from illegal
and destructive sources,is also jeopardizing the development of
legitimate trade in legal andenvironmentally and socially
responsible timber.
In 2004 France was the largest market in the EU for imports of
Africantropical hardwood primary products -- a market valued at
E256 million.France imports timber and timber products from
countries, such asCongo Brazzaville, Cameroon, Gabon, Ivory Coast
and the DemocraticRepublic of Congo, where corruption is rampant
and illegal logging is aserious problem.
One example of how this trade operates in Cameroon is the use
ofsuspect and illegal "salvage" logging permits. Salvage permits
weredesigned for well-defined cases in which specific development
projectsrequired the clearing of trees -- for road building or
industrialdevelopment, such as plantations. There were several
strict conditionsimposed before a salvage permit could be
allocated. A 1995 decreerequired that an environmental impact
assessment be undertaken. In 1998the maximum area for salvage
operations was fixed at 1,000 hectares,and the allocation had to be
through public auction.
But in July 1999, the Cameroon Forestry Minister, by
decree,indefinitely suspended the allocation of all new salvage
permits, dueto the "abuses observed in their award" -- bribery,
kickbacks, waivingof environmental impact reports, and a range of
other corruptpractices. Despite the suspension and the fact that it
has never beenrescinded, the allocation of salvage permits has
continued, giving asheen of legality to a thoroughly illegal
practice.
The companies involved supply timber to traders such as
Danish-basedDLH, French traders such as Rougier, Bois des Trois
Ports and theReseau Pro distribution chain, part of the UK based
Wolseley Group.
Our Forest Campaigner, Sue Connor says: "Stolen rainforest
timber isflooding into ports in France and Europe almost daily. It
ends up onconstruction sites and is being sold in stores across
Europe. If thiscriminal activity is not stopped, the world's
rainforests look set todisappear in our lifetime, destroying the
homes of millions of forestdependent peoples, plant and animal
species, including threatenedlowland gorillas, chimpanzees and
forest elephants."
The French Government has made repeated statements that it will
takeaction against illegal and destructive forest exploitation. To
datetheir action has run counter to those declarations. France
continues toopen the borders to illegal timber and to support
forest industryinvolved in illegal logging activities. This timber
is freely availableon the French and European market.
Despite years of talk by EU
Governmentsthere is still no mechanism tostop the flood of illegal
and unsustainable timber into ports andstores across Europe. There
are stronger protections against piratedmusic than there are
against illegal timber: European law looks afterheavy-metal band
Mettallica's profits better than the irreplaceablehabitat of the
last forestgorillas in the wild.
We are calling on European governments to outlaw all imports of
illegaltimber and to promote environmentally and socially
responsible forestmanagement worldwide.
copyright 2002 Greenpeace/Global Forest
Watch
Sources: Forest cover, TREES (EC Joint
Research Scentre)
Potentially intact ancient
forest, Less than 50,000 heactares
Other forests