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Tropical Forest Research Network |
THE PROSPECTS AND PROBLEMS RELATING TO SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF THE CONGO BASIN FORESTS
By Frank Nwonwu
The Congo Basin is made up of the six countries - Gabon, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Congo Brazzaville and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The Congo Basin Forests represent as much as a quarter of the world's rain forests and cover more than 198 million hectares. They are among the last remaining large areas of primeval forests in the world, second only to the Amazon Basin. These forests are home to rare endangered species such as the eastern lowland gorilla, mountain gorilla, chimpanzee, white rhino, okapi, forest elephants, forest buffalo and Congo peacock. They provide food, medicine, construction materials and shelter for over 20 million people including the indigenous people, the Pygmies. They further act as a sink for the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. This paper reviews the management of the Congo Basin Forests from international and local points of view. It assesses the activities and efforts of logging companies, donor agencies, foreign governments and member states in the sub-region aimed at achieving a sustainable use and management of the forests. Furthermore, it examines the factors that militate against efficient management of the forests and prescribes some remedial measures.
The globalisation-localisation
nexus
The Congo Basin Forests are under threat from a multitude of forces among which
logging, hunting and mining are the most important, degrading almost four million
hectares each year. For example, the Malaysian timber company Idris Hydraulic
Bhd, has timber concessions totalling about 1.2 million hectares in DRC and
Gabon. In the DRC, Innovest Bhd has two timber concessions totalling 0.8 million
hectares, while the German company SIFORZAL has a logging concession of more
than 2.4 million hectares.
Governments in the sub-region have expressed concerns at the catastrophic consequences of unsustainable logging of the forests. At a meeting in Paris in 2002, the Congolese Minister of Forestry highlighted the importance of democratisation and adequate funding in sustainable management of forest resources. He emphasised his concern by stating that a lack of access to financial resources has led to weak government control over the forestry sector in the Congo.
Policies adopted locally by member states to achieve sustainability and efficiency include:
International and local
initiatives in greening the Congo Basin Forests
During the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg in
2002, the world's five wealthiest nations - the United States, Japan, the United
Kingdom, Germany, France and Canada - in cooperation with the World Bank, international
conservation groups and logging companies, agreed to provide up to US $ 100
million to try to save the forests of the Congo Basin. The United States, as
the leader of the partnership, is to invest $53 million between now and 2005
to help the six countries in the Congo Basin develop a network of national parks,
protected areas and assist local communities in managing their forests.
Factors militating against
the greening efforts
One factor that has tainted the local efforts to achieve sustainable forest
management is the seeming alienation of the indigenous people and local communities
in the decision-making process. Environmentalists speculate that there is very
little input from NGOs and the local people, especially the Pygmies who depend
on the forests for their livelihoods. They have warned that unless the Pygmies
are involved in the management of the forests and are able to share in the benefits,
future generations of indigenous people might feel cheated out of their heritage.
The protracted civil wars in the DRC and Congo Brazzaville, the political instability in the Cameroon, the de facto one party dictatorship and limited democratisation in the rest of the sub-region militate against the global and local greening initiatives.
Corruption within government and logging company agents further exacerbate the degradation and destruction of the forests of the Congo Basin. In Cameroon, the Pygmies have mortgaged their traditional values to hunt bushmeat for commercial traders and to find commercially exploitable trees for loggers in return for fees.
Conclusion
This study investigated the activities of international logging companies, foreign
governments and state governments in the sub-region, as well as those of NGOs
in relation to the goal of sustainable management of the Congo Basin Forests.
The study reveals that logging, hunting for bushmeat and the exploitation of
other forest resources are excessive and in many cases illegal. The scenarios
are a threat to the world's remaining rain forests, their immense biodiversity
of rare and endangered flora and fauna and the livelihood of the people, especially
the indigenous Pygmies.
The efforts of foreign and local governments, NGOs and the logging companies, aimed at saving the forests, are hampered by the prolonged civil wars in DRC and Congo Brazzaville as well as the ever-erupting political unrest in the other states of the sub-region. The emergence of sub-regional and trans-national alliances in forest management offers great potential and is hereby prescribed as a viable mechanism for sustainable management of the Congo Basin Forests.
Further information:
Prof. Dr Frank Nwonwu
University of the Free State
P.O. Box 339
Bloemfontein
South Africa
E-mail: nwonwufo@sci.uovs.ac.za