DR Congo plans to cancel more than two-thirds of its timber logging contracts
REUTERS - Logging,
mining, and land clearance for farming are eating away at the Congo Basin, which
accounts for more than a quarter of the world's tropical forest, at a rate of
over 800,000 hectares annually, an area roughly the size of Crete.
In
partial results of the review of 156 contracts released in Kinshasa on Monday, a
government panel found only 46 deals lived up to minimum legal standards and
international norms. The remaining agreements were expected to be
cancelled, Environment Minister Jose Endundu told journalists. However,
companies with contracts on the list of those to be scrapped will be able to
appeal the panel's decision. "They will have 15 days to lodge their
appeals. The commission will also have 15 days to review their observations,"
Endundu said. The full list of contracts destined for cancellation will not be
released until Wednesday.
In August, a group of experts evaluating the
legal and technical aspects of the Congo timber deals recommended that contracts
belonging to a subsidiary of Germany's Danzer Group and to Portuguese-owned
Sodefor should be revoked. A third company, Safbois, also saw its
agreements slotted for cancellation. Together the three firms account for more
than 66 percent of all timber exported from Congo, researchers say.
LOST
TAXES, REDUCED EXPORTS
Congo launched the long-delayed review of its
timber contracts in July in an effort to recoup millions of dollars in lost
taxes and clean up a business rife with corruption. Most of the country's
logging deals were agreed during a 1998-2003 war or by a three-year
corruption-plagued interim government which ruled after it. In 1992,
before the former Belgian colony descended into more than a decade of political
turmoil and war, Congo exported around 500,000 cubic metres of timber. By
2002, as rampant corruption took hold with much of the country under rebel
control, less than 100,000 cubic metres were officially declared for
export.
"Timber makes no significant contribution to the state budget,"
Endundu said. Congo today exports around 200,000 cubic metres of timber
annually, mostly to Europe, the environment ministry says. If adopted
without major changes, the commission's decisions would reduce the total forest
area allocated to logging companies to 7 million hectares from 22
million. Endundu said the government will maintain a moratorium on
signing new logging deals for the next three years. He said proper management of
the smaller exploited timber area should allow Congo to boost exports to 700,000
cubic metres per year.