Sustainable forest management policies in Central Africa. Taking the informal sector into account

Guillaume Lescuyer,Paolo Omar Cerutti

doi:10.19182/agritrop/00042

Abstract

For 20 years, the Congo Basin countries have been implementing policies aimed at the sustainable management of their forest resources and at poverty reduction. These policies target the major timber concessions, whose production is exported, but overlook the informal small-scale chainsaw milling sector, which supplies domestic and regional markets. Yet this sector has taken the lead in terms of the volume of timber produced and provides jobs and income. At a time when States are increasingly urged to guarantee the legality – or even sustainability – of their production, it is urgent that they implement policies to ensure their small-scale chainsaw milling operations are more sustainable and to formalise the sector.

Highlights

For 20 years, the Congo Basin countries have been implementing policies aimed at the sustainable management of their forest resources and at poverty reduction
In the Central African Republic (CAR), all concessions are managed according to a forest management plan validated by the government authorities; and in Cameroon, 78% of concessions are managed in this way
Despite its informality and the illegal levies made on operators, small-scale chainsaw milling is a profitable activity, as shown in Figure 1, which summarises the cost price of the activity and the profit made by millers. This profitability is confirmed in all of the countries studied: the profit margin stands at almost 12% in Cameroon, the CAR and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and reaches 18% in Congo, and even 30% in Gabon

Summary

Forest policies

21 > Sustainable forest management policies in Central Africa Taking the informal sector into account. For 20 years, the Congo Basin countries have been implementing policies aimed at the sustainable management of their forest resources and at poverty reduction. These policies target the major timber concessions, whose production is exported, but overlook the informal small-scale chainsaw milling sector, which supplies domestic and regional markets. In the Central African Republic (CAR), all concessions are managed according to a forest management plan validated by the government authorities; and in Cameroon, 78% of concessions are managed in this way These policies primarily concern export-oriented industrial activities, and overlook small-scale production. Small-scale chainsaw milling, which is informal, has undergone rapid development to meet the demand for cheap timber in Central African countries and other nearby countries (Chad, Nigeria, Uganda, Sudan, Rwanda and Angola), as well as the interests of stakeholders all along the chain of custody

Economic and social significance

Official exports of industrial timber

Strengthening a fragile sector

Findings

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