Following the virtual intergovernmental conference of ministers from Congo Basin countries, a communique was released, agreeing a log export ban covering seven of the member nations of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC). This group includes Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.

The announcement of the log export ban came as ministers convened to approve the “Legal and Institutional Framework for the Implementation of the Sustainable Industrialisation Strategy of the Timber Sector” in the Congo Basin, and is due to enter into effect on 1 January 2022. The ban will be the first collective attempt to implement a regional log ban across all Congo Basin countries. While Cameroon and Gabon have attempted to ban log exports in the past, they have had limited success. In 1999, a partial ban on log exports was implemented in Cameroon in compliance with the 1994 forestry law provisions, giving companies five years to apply the ban. However, logs continued to be exported via quota systems and exceptions built into the regulations that allowed continued export of certain species. Meanwhile, in 2009 Gabon placed a ban on four key species, followed in 2010 by a total ban on log exports. The Gabon ban caused some forest management organisations to move operations to other Congo Basin countries such as Cameroon and the Central African Republic. Therefore, a collective ban in the CEMAC zone comes as a welcome measure to prevent displacement of deforestation from one Congo Basin nation to another.

Photo: JB Dodane
Logs piled near Soulou Dolisie, Republic of Congo

For the CEMAC log export ban to be successful, the group must effectively embed incentives within the broader Sustainable Industrialisation Strategy of the timber sector. The strategy currently includes:

  • Creation of special economic zones for wood processing – to reduce taxes and incentivise investment into timber processing industries.
  • Creation of a regional committee for industrialisation – to provide guidance and coordinate the implementation of the log ban and industrialisation policy.
  • Defining rules for plantation development – to ensure an increase in plantation timber availability to meet the demand of the growing processing industry and avoid increased pressure on natural forests.
  • Creating a school for training professionals in the sector – to ensure the skills are created for the next generation of timber sector professionals.

In addition, the strategy aims to enact a harmonised forest code which will be accompanied by a common forest taxation policy. The Congo Basin countries are looking towards the African Development Bank (ADB), the principal funder of the industrialisation strategy, to finance the reforms associated with a harmonised forestry code.

While these developments are encouraging, several key risks are associated with the CEMAC log export ban and industrialisation strategy. Since the growing forest product sector requires increased timber volumes, harvesters will likely race to increase logging and exports ahead of the ban. The rush for timber will add further pressure to rainforests already under threat from informal logging. The problem will be even more significant if processing efficiency remains low, increasing small-scale mobile milling operations that could push logging beyond sustainable levels if law enforcement does not ramp up to meet the challenge. Increasing small-scale milling operations would make traceability even harder within an already opaque and informal supply chain.

While the CEMAC strategy includes a provision for timber plantation development that aims to feed the growing sector, the time required from plantation establishment to first commercial harvest of trees means that the industry should expect a delay of multiple decades before output might viably meet demand. Land-use planning will require scrutiny to ensure plantation establishment is concentrated on previously degraded lands, contributing to afforestation efforts. Failure to set up robust land-use policies and enforcement strategies runs the risk of conversion of potentially hundreds of thousands of hectares of High Conservation Value (HCV) forest landscape into monoculture tree plantation. If the strategy is successfully implemented and the log ban takes effect, the economic and social gains may be far-reaching, allowing poverty reduction and improving livelihoods by stimulating job creation in primary and secondary processing industries. The assumption is that national economies will boost export markets for value-added timber products and, consequently, increase tax revenues from these product groups. In addition, secondary markets would emerge linked to the growing timber processing sector, such as real estate, agroindustry, catering, and other services. However, this scenario is not guaranteed. Studies of a log export ban in Ghana have indicated that global market competition may drive down prices in markets focusing on value addition, restricting the growth of the timber sector and its role in improving livelihoods. Similarly, studies focusing on Indonesia’s log export ban suggest that appropriately high export taxes on logs may be a preferable strategy as they can reduce the rate of log harvesting over the long term more effectively than an outright ban.

The CEMAC strategy should include effective mechanisms to ensure unintended consequences do not reduce livelihoods and increase forest conversion. Developing and implementing these mechanisms will require support from bilateral and multilateral partners of the countries of the CEMAC region. The strategy may provide renewed impetus for the existing Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs). The FLEGT VPA processes, championed by the EU and UK, seek to support legal reform in the forestry sector and support legal forest utilisation. Alignment and cooperation with CEMAC countries regarding the log ban may result in renewed interest from national governments to push forward the VPA processes started but not completed, to ensure the success of the industrialisation strategy. As such, efforts to improve forest governance through initiatives such as the FLEGT process will be even more critical in Congo Basin countries over the coming years.

One thing is sure, the move by CEMAC countries towards industrialising the timber sector has the potential to impact livelihoods and vital tropical forest areas significantly. ZSL encourages all parties to support the integration of strong environmental and social safeguards to protect biodiversity, forests and communities and build a sustainable forest products sector.

Photo: Nick Baker
Nyong River, Cameroon