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Congo (Kinshasa): Forests under Threat
AfricaFocus Bulletin
Mar 16, 2004 (040316)
(Reposted from sources cited below)
Editor's Note
Central Africa is the region having the richest rainforest resources
on the continent, and its Congo basin is second only to the Amazon
among the world's rainforest regions. How these resources are used
and who controls their "development" are issues that deserve wide
debate. Yet new legislation to permit rapid expansion in logging is
being introduced in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), on
the advice of the World Bank, without significant consultation with
civil society or people living in forest areas.
This issue of AfricaFocus Bulletin features a report from the
Rainforest Foundation on new threats to the forests of the DRC. For
additional background resources on forests in the DRC and other
central African countries, see:
http://www.rainforestweb.org/Rainforest_Regions/Africa
and http://www.forestsmonitor.org/countries.htm
for links to a variety of resources.
http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/005/Y8719E/Y8719E00.HTM
for the FAO's
Forestry Outlook Study for Africa Subregional Report for Central
Africa, 2003.
http://www.fao.org/forestry/site/6452/en/cod
for a map of the
forest cover in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
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New Threats to the Forests and Forest Peoples of the Democratic
Republic of Congo
The Rainforest Foundation
City Cloisters, 196 Old Street, London, ECIV 9FR
Tel: +44 (0) 207 251 6345, Fax: +44 (0) 207 251 4969
E-mail: rainforestuk@rainforestuk.com
website: http://www.rainforestfoundationuk.org
Briefing Paper
[slightly abridged for length; full version with footnotes
available in pdf format at
http://www.rainforestfoundationuk.org]
February 2004
Summary
New laws governing forestry in DRC are presently in preparation,
and the 'development' of the country's forests is being planned
by international agencies including the World Bank. Linked with
planned new investments, this could result in a 60-fold increase
in the rate of logging. The future of the world's second largest
area of rainforest, and the many millions of people who live in
it, is thus at stake. The Rainforest Foundation believes that
plans for this development should be suspended until the
necessary safeguards have been put in place.
Purpose of this briefing
The rainforests of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC,
formerly Zaire), and the many millions of people that live in
them, are at a critical juncture. Most of the country has not yet
been affected by the large-scale industrial logging and forest
clearance that has all but eradicated rainforests in other parts
of Africa. However, with the ending of decades of economic chaos
and civil wars, this is about to change.
International agencies including the World Bank and the UN Food
and Agriculture Organisation are planning extensive 'development'
of DRC's forests. Potentially, tens of millions of hectares of
forest will be opened up to logging companies. The rights and
livelihoods of tens of millions of people will be put at risk.
A process has begun which may soon be irreversible and could
result in the eventual loss of much of the world's second largest
area of rainforest This could well be the first major
environmental catastrophe of the 21st century. This briefing sets
out some of the key issues at stake, and makes suggestions as to
how this catastrophe can be avoided.
Background: a country emerging from a devastating 'natural
resources war'
Following decades of despotic rule by Mobutu Sese Seko, the DRC
is still divided by a civil war that, directly and indirectly,
has claimed the lives of an estimated 3.5 million people. Much of
the east of this vast country is still under the nominal control
of 'rebel' groups in a complex pattern of shifting alliances
between various factions, ethnic groups and militias, with the
support and involvement of neighbouring countries' armies.
The war has, at least in part, been fuelled by competition for
control over natural resources. A UN Security Council 'Expert
Panel' on the Illegal Exploitation of DRC's Natural Resources
reported in October 2002 that 'corrupt and criminal elites' both
within DRC and neighbouring countries such as Uganda and Rwanda
were profiting from the civil war by using it to gain access to
timber, minerals and ivory [1] . The proceeds from illegal mining
and logging have been used to purchase arms and munitions, thus
perpetuating the conflict.
The illegal and uncontrolled exploitation of these resources has
had devastating social and environmental impacts in some
localities. Forest people such as the Twa 'Pygmies' of eastern
DRC have suffered traumatic impacts during the conflict. As well
as brutal treatment - including cases of cannibalism and reported
'genocide' - at the hands of one faction or another, Pygmy people
have also suffered from a depletion of wild food resources, which
have been exploited by armies and militias.
In July 2003, a 'Transitional Government', including
representatives of most of the main rebel factions, was put in
place. Although sporadic armed conflict is still occurring, the
international community has quickly moved to assist President
Joseph Kabila to rebuild the country's political institutions and
economy, and particularly to encourage foreign investment.
Forests and forest people in the firing line
DRC's forests cover an area of 1.3 million square kilometres,
more than twice the size of France. According to World Bank
estimates, some 35 million people (70% of the national
population) are resident within, or to some extent dependent on,
the country's forests [2]. Bantu farming peoples are believed to
have migrated into the much of the forest zone several thousands
of years ago, where Mbuti and Twa hunter-gatherers may have
already been present [3]. The World Bank estimates that the
average per capita income in DRC is presently the lowest in the
world, at $90 per year [4]; average income in rural, forested,
areas is likely to be lower than the average.
The economic chaos of the Mobutu decades, and failure to invest
in infrastructure, has meant that much of the forest has not been
exploited industrially, although a few (mostly foreign) companies
have had access to large areas for logging. The German group,
Danzer, for example, has for many years held logging concessions
extending over 2.4 million hectares [5].
New forest laws, and the World Bank
Although recent rates of deforestation in DRC have been
relatively low, the forests are now coming under great pressure,
particularly from commercial logging.
In August 2002, a new Forest Code was adopted by the (unelected)
Interim Government of DRC [6]. The Code sets out the basic
'framework' for the DRC Government's forest policy, such as that
the government continues to assert state ownership over all areas
of forest. Certain categories of forest are broadly defined, such
as for 'exploitation', 'community use' and 'conservation'. The
development and adoption of the Code was supported financially by
the World Bank, and was broadly modelled on the Forest Law that
the Bank developed for Cameroon
Following the adoption of the Code, in January 2003, a project
was set up, also with World Bank (and other donor) funding, under
which the specific legal decrees to implement the framework
Forest Code would be developed and adopted. The project is being
implemented under a Technical Cooperation Programme run by the UN
Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). The project is also
developing a 'zoning' system for DRC's forests, under which the
country's entire forest area will eventually be divided up into
areas for logging, conservation, and other uses [7]. This project
is due to be completed by October 2004.
The World Bank has taken some positive steps to reform the timber
industry in DRC. For example, the Bank has pressed the Government
of DRC to cancel a number of existing logging contracts, and to
revoke 6 million hectares of logging concessions that were
allocated, in contravention of the new Forest Code, to a
Portuguese company. The Bank has also urged that the level of
forestry taxes should be increased substantially, in order to
generate greater revenues for the Congolese Treasury. However,
these changes have been resisted by the logging industry:
forestry taxes remain very low ($0.06 per hectare [8]), and
logging has continued in illegally allocated concessions.
Despite the apparent failures to bring the existing forest
exploitation under control, the World Bank has been closely
involved in discussions with the Government of DRC about a
massive expansion of the country's timber industry. The industry
has declined in recent years, but World Bank documents refer to a
possible 60- 100-fold increase of timber production to around
6-10 million cubic metres of timber per year [9]. Bank documents
also refer to the 'creation of a favourable climate for
industrial logging' [10]. According to the Bank, an area of some
60 million hectares (somewhat larger than the size of France) is
considered as 'production forests' [11].
Peoples participation? A lesson in how not to make policy
Despite expressed policies and general commitments from both the
World Bank and the UN FAO, there has been virtually no
consultation with civil society or forest communities over the
new Forest Code or the legal decrees that will implement it. In
November 2003, the Rainforest Foundation organised a meeting in
Kinshasa with representatives of leading civil society
organisations from across DRC concerned with conservation,
development and human rights. At this meeting, it was clear that
almost no-one within DRC (apart from a small group of government
officials and their consultants, and some members of the private
sector), were even aware of the existence of the new Forest Code,
let alone the farreaching changes which are envisaged [12].
By November 2003, 15 legal decrees to implement the Forest Code
had already been drafted or were planned, of which 6 had been
immediately passed for official authorisation, having been deemed
as 'needing no consultation'. Nine decrees were at various stages
of 'discussion and consultation', but of these, only three had
been made available to the three small 'civil society'
organisations involved in the project.
In November 2003, representatives of DRC's civil society asked
for greater participation in the process of drawing up the new
legal decrees about forestry. This request has been accepted by
the Government of DRC, but consultation has not yet actually
commenced.
The reasons for concern
The Rainforest Foundation believes that the proposed
'development' of DRC's forests, and the way in which this is
being undertaken, presents a number of serious dangers:
* The proposed expansion of the logging industry does not take
into account the findings of the UN Security Council Expert Panel
on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources in DRC, nor with
UN Security Council Resolution 1457 (January 2003), which
encouraged "States, international financial institutions, and
other organizations to assist in efforts to create appropriate
national structures and institutions to control resource
exploitation" in DRC.
Given the speed with which the 'development' of Congo's forests
is being pursued, there is no prospect that 'appropriate national
structures' will be in place before vast areas of the country's
forest land are handed out to companies and individuals, some of
whom may well have been associated with, or benefited from, the
conflict over DRC's natural resources. The experience in other
countries, such as Cameroon, has been that, without very close
regulation, the logging industry is extremely susceptible to
corruption and malpractices, and that this can have a pervasive
corrupting effect on government and administrative structures
more widely. We believe that this could have serious, negative
long-term results if allowed to develop in DRC.
* The World Bank's approach to the development of DRC's forests
appears to be based on the assumption that the expansion of
industrial logging will necessarily bring economic benefits to
the country's poor people. However, there is very little evidence
from other comparable countries that this assumption is valid. In
fact, the evidence from countries such as Cameroon has been that
communities living in the forest - often the poorest of the poor
- are further impoverished, as the logging industry can destroy
resources upon which forest people depend for their very
subsistence, including small-scale forest farms, supplies of
fresh water, wild game, fruits and oils, and natural medicines.
The development of a large-scale logging industry in DRC could
therefore have serious negative impacts on millions of poor
people.
* The approach being taken by the Bank also appears not to fully
recognise that, as elsewhere in Africa, communities that have
been present for hundreds or even thousands of years lay claim to
large areas of Congo's forests under 'traditional rights'. Again,
the experience in countries such as Cameroon has been that the
failure to properly recognise such rights and claims when
're-zoning' forest areas and allocating logging concessions can
result in serious, persistent and violent social conflict.
The adoption of new legal decrees, without ensuring public
'ownership' of those laws, is likely to lead to serious problems
of implementation, and will potentially also fuel social
conflict.
* According to the World Bank, the projects under which its
forest sector initiatives in DRC have been financed were
categorised as 'Environmental Category 'A'' projects, " because
the scale and nature of the project activities, and the potential
for resettlement, displacement and social tensions due to the
project are significant". Various of the Bank's 'safeguard'
Operational Policies, including those concerning Forestry (OP
4.36), Natural Habitats (OP 4.04), Involuntary Resettlement (OP
4.12), and Indigenous Peoples (O.P 4.20) were 'triggered' by the
projects. The Bank is supposed, by June 2003, to have conducted a
full Strategic Environmental Assessment and "sub-project
Environmental Assessments" of its planned activities in DRC.
As yet, the Rainforest Foundation has seen no evidence of steps
taken by the Bank to ensure proper compliance with these
Operational Policies, nor that the Strategic Environmental
Assessment has actually been undertaken. We therefore believe
that the Bank may have acted in serious breach of its own
Operational Policies.
Many of these issues have also been raised by Congolese
environmental, human rights and developmental organisations, more
than 100 of which signed on to a letter of concern sent to the
World Bank and the FAO in February 2004 [13].
Recommendations
On 2nd December, 2003, the Rainforest Foundation wrote a detailed
letter to the World Bank, seeking clarification about its
involvement in forestry in DRC, and raising a number of the above
concerns. By February 11th, 2004, we had received no substantive
response.
The Rainforest Foundation appreciates that there is a need to
'kick-start' the Congolese economy, and also that the World Bank
and other agencies such as the FAO can encourage important and
necessary dialogue about forest policy within countries such as
DRC. We also appreciate that there is potentially a place for
commercial exploitation of timber in DRC's forests. However, we
believe strongly that this should not occur at the expense of the
rights and livelihoods of perhaps tens of millions of poor
forest-dwellers. We believe that a hasty approach could result in
serious, long-term social conflict, will have negative effects on
the most vulnerable in Congolese society, and will cause
long-term or irreversible environmental damage.
The Rainforest Foundation therefore makes the following
recommendations:
- The World Bank should clarify its intentions, plans and
strategy for the forests of DRC. In particular, the Bank should
give a detailed account of the steps that have been taken to
ensure compliance with the relevant Bank Operational Policies of
its three most recent projects in DRC. The Bank should also
provide documented evidence that the expansion of DRC's
industrial logging industry will provide a greater benefit for
poor rural people in DRC than other options, such as supporting
the recognition of community rights over forests, the development
of community-based forestry, and management of 'non-timber forest
resources'.
- The Forest Code, and any legal decrees which have already been
adopted should be reviewed through an inclusive and participatory
process, and amended if necessary.
- International agencies including the World Bank, the FAO and
other donors should establish a process to ensure that the forest
zoning process in DRC takes full account of traditional and
customary rights and claims by forest communities, and that the
particular circumstances of hunter-gatherer people such as the
Twa and Mbuti are also properly addressed.
- There should be a thorough 'stakeholder analysis' of the
political economy of the forest sector before any further
development of industrial logging in DRC. This should draw on the
work of the UN Expert Panel and other relevant studies [14], and
should identify the interests of specific individuals and
organisations in the development of the DRC Forest Sector. These
interests should be analysed in relation to the potential for
poor, forest-dependent, communities to benefit from forest
resources. The study should be produced through a consultative
and multi-stakeholder process.
- The current process of development of the legal decrees for
forestry should be suspended until such time as the actions
recommended above in 1-4 have happened and been fully documented.
- Following the above, the process of developing new legal
decrees for forestry in DRC should be extended to ensure proper
and meaningful consultation with civil society, and that the
views of forest peoples and communities are incorporated into the
relevant texts.
- The World Bank and other international donors should ensure
that 'transparency' in the DRC forest sector is guaranteed in
law, such that civil society is assured access to the information
necessary to monitor compliance with the relevant laws.
...
AfricaFocus Bulletin is an independent electronic publication
providing reposted commentary and analysis on African issues, with
a particular focus on U.S. and international policies. AfricaFocus
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