Ensuring the health and well-being of workers and dependent local communities is a core obligation of FSC certification for forestry and timber businesses, and one with particular significance in developing countries in the tropics. Covid-19 has taken what this means in terms of action on the ground in Africa to a new level.

Exemplified by the initiatives of two Republic of the Congo (RoC) operations, CIBOlam and Interholco, the pandemic has seen companies ramp up investment in medical facilities and equipment. With strategies aimed at both prevention and treatment, the focus has also been on health education and sharing knowledge and best practice.

“We’re based in Switzerland, so experienced the early impact of Covid-19 there and were obviously concerned its spread to Central Africa could be very serious,” said Tom van Loon, head of sustainability at Interholco, whose subsidiary IFO in Ngombé manages 1.159 million ha of certified forest.

“In northern RoC healthcare infrastructure is limited, so we developed a joint plan with the state for prevention and mitigation,” he continued. “Until May, while there were some cases in the capital Brazzaville, we had none in northern RoC, but clearly could not risk that situation continuing. It was clear we had a major task ahead, with over 1,200 workers at IFO and the Ngombé site, which is 800km from the capital Brazzaville having a population of 16,000.”

The pandemic also posed significant challenges for CIB-Olam, which this year achieved 100% FSC certification of its 2.9 million ha of concessions in the RoC, with completion of the process at its Mimbeli- Ibenga operation. The company has a workforce of 950, plus 200 subcontractors, while the population of Pokola and surrounding region, where it has its main facilities is 20,000. Local communities around its other sites are home to a further 40,000 people.

CIB-Olam’s hospital in Pokola already undertook over 40,000 consultations a year, serving employees and local populations, and its clinics at other operations, although mainly for the workforce, also treat local people in serious cases.

“We’ve been in northern Congo for 52 years and are one with communities around us,” said head of corporate responsibility Vincent Istace. “Our response to the threat had not only to be for employees and their families, but the entire local population and business partners.”

Interholco spent over €200,000 (FCFA francs 130 million) on pandemic measures, while the German Development Corporation backed Programme for the Promotion of Certified Forest Management (PPECF) contributed €70,000.

“We raised further amounts through an international crowd funding initiative,” said Mr van Loon. “Contributors included customers, NGOs and business partners and we also had donations of PPE.”

CIB-Olam says its spend to date has been €450,000 (CFA francs 300 million). “We received €60,000 from the PPECF, and paid the rest ourselves,” said Mr Istace. “And we estimate we’ll spend around a further €100,000 this year.”

Providing PPE for local people took €189,000 of CIB-Olam’s budget. The company also provided PPE for its workforce and installed barriers and implemented other safe work procedures at its premises. In addition, it set up hand wash and temperature check points at its sites and in local communities.

“We constructed a quarantine unit for suspected and confirmed cases next to our hospital, provided barrier measure training in all concessions and, with local authorities, established an ambulance evacuation plan for people with the disease,” said Mr Istace. “We started immuno analysis in our clinical laboratory and bought detection kits for testing all employees.”

Interholco’s Ngombé hospital was set up in 2000. Since then it has doubled in size and today includes an operating theatre, maternity facilities and a pharmacy.

“For the pandemic, we bought four ventilators and three oxygenators,” said Mr van Loon. “We also ordered large volumes of PPE; gloves, screens and 30,000 masks and set up hand wash and temperature reading stations.”

Healthcare awareness raising and training was another aspect of Interholco’s strategy and, to ensure continuity of supply, it set up a local tailors’ co-operative to make face masks.

“We provided over 5,000 hand-made masks to our neighbours, Odzala Kokoua National Park and in all distributed 18,500 to local and indigenous communities in 30 villages,” said Mr van Loon. “We produced infographics on mask use, distancing and hand washing, while our social team trained local communities in disease prevention. We also ensured truck drivers from the port of Douala in Cameroon were kept isolated from our workers and local people via a cordon sanitaire.”

There is a public hospital in Ngombé, but it had no running water or electricity.

Interholco also fixed that and provided 40 beds plus medical supplies to convert it into a quarantine unit. Interholco’s hospital could consequently continue to admit patients, separate from suspected Covid-19 cases. Both Interholco and CIB-Olam said the exchange of information between companies on tackling the crisis in the region has proved invaluable.

“Also helpful were pandemic webinars organised by IDH-the Sustainable Trade Initiative,” said Mr van Loon. “Input from companies in Liberia was particularly useful, given their Ebola experience.”

So far, incidence of Covid-19 in northern RoC has not been high. At the Pokola hospital just 100 people from all CIB-Olam’s sites have tested positive. At Ngombé it’s 30 people, with a further 50 likely to have had the disease, but currently no cases in the state hospital.

“We believe one elderly woman died of Covid-19 as she had pre-existing health conditions and didn’t get to hospital in time, while another emergency case was evacuated to Brazzaville and was saved by having the ventilator in the ambulance,” said Mr van Loon. “Other than that, cases have been mild, or asymptomatic.”

One reason for the relatively low impact of Covid-19 in the area is thought to be demographics, with just 3% of the population in Central Africa being over 65 compared to 20% in UK or France. But Interholco and CIB-Olam believe the measures they’ve taken, in association with local authorities, have contributed to curbing disease spread. Given the unpredictable course of the pandemic, they know too that efforts must be ongoing.

“The investment in health education and equipment, such as ventilators, also has a long-term value beyond Covid-19,” stressed Mr van Loon.

Mr Istace additionally viewed the health crisis in a broader sense; as providing further “evidence of the importance of investing in health as part of sustainable ecosystem management”.