02 04 14 Greenpeace DRC logging is out of control as Chatham House study lays bare

We welcome the findings of the study as they underpin and reinforce
much of the work we have been doing, along with organisations like
Global Witness and local NGOs, to combat what is the “organised chaos” of the DRC’s logging sector.

Of the experts Chatham House interviewed for the study, the bulk said
that between 60 and 80 per cent of logging in the country is estimated
to be illegal. This is the highest proportion of any of the countries
researched.

These specialists also consider illegal logging as the main driver of
forest degradation and deforestation – and a whopping 80% of
respondents in the Chatham House survey said that it is also a main
cause of “negative social impacts” on forest communities.

Sadly none of these eye-catching statistics come as a surprise to me.
I have been working in the DRC for more than a decade witnessing
illegal and destructive logging first hand. I have seen companies
operate with impunity, seen intact forest landscapes destroyed and seen
first-hand how it is local residents who pay the largest price.

I have campaigned for a long time with my colleagues throughout
Europe on the illegal timber trade and recently, one case led to the
confiscation of a batch of illegal endangered Wengé wood in Germany.
This is the strongest enforcement so far of the EU’s new Timber Regulation (EUTR) that came into force last year.

The Chatham House report reinforces this work as it provides
independent results and analysis that back up our claims. Even though
the findings are not surprising, the report is still a worrying read,
particularly its conclusions regarding government response.

Stemming the tide of illegal logging requires a strong reaction from
government, one that sees investment in both the reform and enforcement
of forestry laws via a process that includes multiple stakeholders.
Instead, for the DRC, the Chatham House report finds severe deficiencies
in all areas of governmental responsibility. Insufficient political
will and corruption stand in the way of an improved response, according
to the study’s respondents.

The report also provides a warning for timber traders in Europe, as
it says “at present, it is unlikely that any of the DRC’s timber
production could meet EU due diligence requirements.” One other strong
recommendation for the country’s government is to maintain the current
moratorium on new industrial logging concessions, something NGOs,
Greenpeace among them, have been campaigning on for years.

This last point makes it of all the more concern that the Congolese
environment ministry has just published its new national programme
called ‘PNEFEB’ (Programme National Environnement, Forêts, Eaux et
Biodiversité) in which it says the moratorium will be lifted when all
conditions have been met. There is no clear timeline given in the text,
but in 2014 there is finance for the measures needed to lift the
moratorium and from 2015 onwards there is a significant budget increase
forecast. This would see the moratorium lifted and new logging titles be
allocated in earnest.

Yet there is no way conditions needed to lift the moratorium could be
met any time soon. The sector is totally out of control and the Chatham
House report makes that ever more painfully clear.

The DRC’s logging sector is by no means the world’s biggest. But it
is linked to some of the highest rates of deforestation in the Congo
Basin and is certainly well up there with the most chaotic of
industries.

Home to hectare after hectare of the world’s second-largest tropical
rainforest, it is clear that if that figure of 87 percent does not start
to shift downwards anytime soon, then who knows what chaos and sadly
startling new statistics may await.

Raoul Monsembula is the country director for the Democratic Republic of Congo with Greenpeace Africa.