For some people it’s a moot point whether introducing “western” technology to developing countries is a good thing.

In the Congo Basin, however, the use of a neat gizmo developed by the technology company Helveta has been instrumental in the shipping of Forest Stewardship Council-certified logs from the region to Europe in September last year.

Six months earlier, the 296,000ha Kabo concession, one of five managed by Congolaise Industrielle des Bois (CIB), part of the DLH/tt-Timber Group, became the first area of FSC-certified forest in the Congo Basin. And CIB achieved the certification in part by involving indigenous pygmy communities in the forest management.

In seeking certification, CIB’s approach has been to collaborate with a wide range of organisations that could help it raise its environmental performance, including the Tropical Forest Trust, ITTO, the German overseas development assistance agency GTZ and the French Global Environment Fund (FFEM).

Forest management framework

The first challenge for CIB was to develop a forest management framework that allowed harvesting while avoiding long-term forest degradation. A first step was to decide on which parts of the concession should be protected and, based on a detailed forest inventory and following consultations with government agencies, NGOs, and local communities, 75,000ha were set aside.

The remaining 214,000ha are designated as production forest where commercial harvesting is subject to careful planning and tight control. The area is divided into production units, each with an equivalent volume of harvestable timber. Only a small proportion of production units is harvested each year and it is selective, so that only a small number of mature trees over a specified minimum diameter are removed per hectare.

Once harvested, each production unit is closed and not logged again for 30 years. Regular monitoring of operations is undertaken by CIB staff to ensure adequate implementation of the management plan and conformance to environmental standards.

But maintaining the integrity of the forest is only a small part of certification. The FSC standards emphasise the need to respect indigenous people’s rights.

The semi-nomadic pygmy groups, which are indigenous to Kabo, have suffered from discrimination in the Congo region. Western concepts of land ownership are alien to pygmy societies; groups operate a culture of obligatory sharing and even the concept of community leaders is unfamiliar as decisions are taken collectively. This egalitarianism makes it difficult for these small, isolated groups to organise themselves to oppose powerful outside forces and, as a result, their land rights have been ignored – until now.

To achieve certification in this environment, CIB has had to take the initiative. Not only has it recognised the pygmies’ rights, it has also facilitated a process whereby these rights can be identified and mapped.

Computer mapping

A new GPS hand-held computer mapping system has been developed in association with Helveta and anthropologist Dr Jerome Lewis. The system uses icons that are familiar to indigenous people so they can locate and map key forest resources such as hunting zones, and culturally important sites. The data is then integrated into commercial logging plans so these resources are protected.

CIB has also developed procedures to ensure the pygmies’ involvement in forest management decisions, establishing a social office within the CIB forest management department. A monitoring system has also been set up in collaboration with local NGOs to assess the extent to which the indigenous population has given informed consent to forestry operations. Funding has been secured from the World Bank to set up a local radio service to improve communication between forest communities.

First shipment

The first shipload of FSC-certified logs from the Kabo concession – around 132m3 of sapele, sipo and acajou – arrived in Germany in September. While this is a start, DLH in the UK stresses that the Kabo certification will not lead to an immediate significant increase in availability of FSC-certified African sawn lumber. In isolation Kabo is only capable of supplying relatively modest volumes, most of which is directed to existing customers.

The good news is that more significant volumes should become available following certification of CIB’s other concessions in the Congo Republic. CIB is finalising management plans for these concessions, which cover an additional 1 million hectares, with a view to seeking certification this year. CIB’s success is also encouraging other suppliers in the Congo region to pursue FSC certification – for example, Industrie Forestière d’Ouesso (IFO), part of the Danzer Group based in the Congo Republic, is now making real progress towards FSC certification.