State of the Rainforest 2014

time. Civil society organisations in the DRC have struggled for more than a decade to make the country’s new forest law from 2002 benefit forest people, and have advocated a transparent and participatory forest policy. Significant achievements have been made by pressuring government and international agencies to pay more attention to the social and environmental effects of industrial logging. Also the DRC’s neighbours in the region have experienced decades of autocratic rule, conflicts and widespread corruption. The weak governance has had great impacts on forest management. Gabon, Congo and Cameroon have a long history of land conflict between logging interests and local forest communities. In general, forest policies have been dominated by logging and resource extraction (petroleum and minerals), and by conservation approaches which have resulted in people being denied access to the forests they have traditionally used. Thousands expelled from their land 20% of the Congo Basin forest is classified as productive forest, 12% is set aside for conservation and 10% for multiple use, including community forestry. The remaining 58% has not been classified. 43 Conservation areas have been a prime source of conflict in the region. Traditionally, the approach taken by conservation organisations and governments has been strict nature conservation, excluding people living in the forest or utilising forest resources for their livelihood. Thousands of people have been expelled from forest areas in DRC because of conservation initiatives. Many people now live in the border areas of national parks, unable to obtain land. As the case study from Itombwe shows (see following pages), a participatory and inclusive approach to forest conservation is necessary. The Congo Basin countries export a significant quantity of tropical timber. Five countries in the region are working with the EU to develop systems against illegal logging under the EU FLEGT initiative. 44 DRC exports around 500 000 cubic metres of timber per year, 80–90% of which is sent to Europe. Cameroon is Africa’s largest exporter of tropical hardwood to the EU, most of which is sawn timber that goes to Italy and Spain. The Central African Republic has only 5.4 million hectares of forest, yet the forest sector contributes 40% of the country’s export earnings. Gabon and Republic of the Congo both have timber as the second most important export product after oil. The main export markets are Europe and China. The DRC, Congo, Gabon, Cameroon and the Central African Republic are all involved in REDD+ initiatives through the World Bank or UN- REDD. Properly designed REDD+ initiatives have the potential for great success given the high carbon content of the Congo Basin forest In order to succeed, lessons must be learned from the past decade of struggle over forest policy and community rights. Mapping and recognition of community rights prior to allocation of forest areas for either exploitation or conservation measures, including REDD+ initiatives, is essential in order to reduce the risk of future land conflicts and forest mismanagement.

Logging and mining is expected to increase in the region. The Congo Basin countries have 440,000 km 2 of forest under logging concessions – a fourth of the total dense lowland forest area. 41 Logging has thus far been mainly selective, targeting a few high-value species. There is a lack of reliable information about the extensive degradation taking place. In recent years DRC has reviewed its logging concessions to make sure logging is in line with the forest law. Prior to 2002, the government had allocated 455,000 km 2 to logging concessions. With the new forest law, almost half of the concessions were cancelled, and a moratorium on new industrial logging concessions was put in place. In 2005, the government opened for conversion of the remaining logging concessions to new licences, and companies applied for logging of 220,000 km 2 . As of 2011, 125,500 km 2 had been approved as suitable for logging. 42 Mining is, as logging, expected to increase. Numerous conflicts have already emerged between conservation priorities, mining and logging concessions, and the livelihood of local populations. Forest policy The weak state structures in in the Congo Basin pose particular challenges compared to those facing other rainforest regions. DRC has a long history of dictatorship and was from 1990s until 2003 ravaged by wars and internal conflict. The governance and administrative system is weak. Establishing the democratic and participatory governance necessary for rights-based, sustainable forest management will take

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STATE OF THE RAINFOREST 2014

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