The document discusses the management of forest resources in the Congo Basin over time. It covers the evolution of the international agenda around sustainability from the 1960s onwards. It then examines policies and practices regarding wood products like timber, domestic wood, and wood energy. It also discusses non-wood products and environmental services. While awareness of issues like unsustainable harvesting and the importance of non-timber forest products has increased, the document notes that implementation of sustainable management practices and appropriate legal frameworks remain inadequate, particularly regarding issues like wood energy use and the bushmeat trade.

1. Management of Congo Basin
forest resources
The quest for sustainability
Sustainable
Forest
Management
in
Central
Africa
Yesterday,
today
and
tomorrow
Robert
Nasi

2. Contents
§ Evolution of the international
agenda and related paradigm
changes
§ Policies and practices
– Wood products
• Timber
• Domestic wood
• Wood energy
– Non wood products
– Environmental services
§ Policy recommendations

3. Agenda and paradigm changes
§ < 1960: ?
§ 1962: “Silent Spring”
§ 1972: Stockholm
§ 1983: AIBT
§ 1986: OIBT
§ 1987: “Our Common Future”
§ 1992: Rio
§ 1993: FSC
§ 1994: AIBT (2)
§ 1999: Yaounde
§ 2002: Rio +10
§ 2005-7: REDD
§ 2011: AIBT (3)
§ 2012: Rio +20
§ Segregation
§ Sustained timber
production
§ Sustainable timber
production
§ Sustainable
production of
multiple goods
§ Sustained provision
of ecosystem
services
§ Ecosystem approach

4. International, formal
timber

5. § Colonial forestry
(1890-1960)
§ Timber rush
(1945-1975)
§ Silviculture and
resource assessment
(1950-1990; CTFT,
FAO, OFI)
§ Forest management
(1965, 1993-present;
CIRAD, CIFOR)
§ Certification /Legality
(1995, 2002- present;
CIRAD, CIFOR)

6. State
of
Forests
2010

7. Impact
of
management
and
cer?fica?on
on
harvest
intensity
Ceru<
et
al.
2011
Managed and certified
concessions have a
significantly reduced
harvesting intensity

8. Logs
Sawn
wood
Plywood
Congo
Basin
7,815
(3
%)
1,524
(2
%)
117
(1
%)
Africa
out
of
Congo
Basin
10,248
3,077
290
Asia-­‐Pacific
94,413
29,346
12,834
La?n
America
/
Caribbean
122,615
31,941
4,282
Total
produc?on
(ITTO)
235,091
65,888
17,523
State
of
Forests
2010

9. Source:
COMTRADE
database

10. Domestic, informal timber

11. § Total ignorance till the
mid 90s
§ Initial studies
(1995-2005)
§ Empirical research by
CIFOR (2007 -
present)
§ Policy recognition but
inadequate legal
frameworks

12. State
of
Forests
2010

13. 80
000m3
6
000m3
12
000m3
150 000m3
§ > 50,000 full time
jobs (more than the
formal sector)
§ Turn over of about 40
billion CFA/year ($80
million/year)
§ Affordable building
material for
populations (80%
cheaper than export
sawn wood)

14. Wood energy

15. § A non issue in the humid
part of the region
§ Early warnings (mid 70s;
CTFT)
§ Full blown but localized
problem (empirical
research in DRC; CIRAD,
CIFOR)
§ Still not really recognized
and remains a poor
people issue

16. § Kinshasa: 4,700,000 m3/yr
§ Kisangani: 200,000 m3/yr
§ Formal timber sector for
DRC: < 300,000 m3/yr
17,664
3,200
1,315
75,446
190
1,070
Cameroon
CAR
Congo
DRC
Equatorial
Guinea
Gabon
State
of
Forests
2010;
Makala
project

17. Before and after?
Luki
forest
reserve,
Bas
Congo
Degraded
lands,
Bas
Congo
In
28
years,
the
quan?ty
of
carbon
stored
in
the
vegeta?on
around
Kinshasa
has
decreased
by
29%
Makala
project

18. Non wood products

19. § A non issue before the
80s
§ “Discovery” and
overselling (1990s)
§ NTFP Domestication
(1990- present; ICRAF)
§ Bushmeat crisis (2000 –
present; BCTF, NGOs,
ZSL, CIFOR)
§ Inappropriate legal
frameworks

20. 613,600,000
378,641,309
12,197,503
8,089,580
4,040,000
2,874,928
2,799,330
1,574,661
989,504
847,182
730,325
585,586
430,639
284,013
269,083
249,938
244,420
171,175
124,489
94,803
61,105
31,500
18,000
11,868
5,911
78.9
1
10
100
1,000
10,000
100,000
1,000,000
10,000,000
100,000,000
1,000,000,000
Fish
(Silures
&
other
species)
Fuelwood
(wood,
charcoal
&
sawdust)
Gnetum
africanum,
Gnetum
bulchozium
Irvingia
gabonensis,
Irvingia
wombulu
Acacia
senegal,
Acacia
polyacantha
Prunus
africana
Bushmeat
Raphia
spp.
Dacryodes
edulis
Pausinystalia
johimbe
Ricinodendron
heudeloUi
Voacanga
africana
Cola
niUda
RaWans
Cola
acuminata
Garcinia
kola
Apiculture:
beeswax
Garcinia
lucida
Tetrapleura
tetraptera
Rauvolfia
vomitoria
Apiculture:
honey
Chinconia
spp.
Kigelia
africana
Baillonella
toxisperma
Carpolobia
lutea,
Carpolobia
albea
Piper
guineensis
US$
(2010
equivalent)
Annual
market
value
of
key
NTFPs
in
Cameroon
State
of
Forests
2010

21. § Estimates of the
bushmeat trade range
from US$42 to US$205
million per year in West-
Central Africa.
§ Current harvest in
excess of 5 million
tonnes annually
§ 30 to 80% of the protein
intake of many rural
populations
§ Looming food security
issue

22. Gender issues
• NTFP play a disproportionately
important role in the livelihoods and
well-being of women (and children)
• The collection of fuelwood or other wild
products is often a task for women and
children
• Women play an important role in the
different value chains of these products
and derive crucial income from the
sales
• Women generally invest back their
income into household food and
wellbeing; men more into non essential
goods

23. § Regional guidelines for the sustainable management
of NTFPs developed for the 10 member countries of
COMIFAC).
§ Adopted by the Conference of Ministers of COMIFAC
– This in turn has resulted in raising the status of NTFPs within
the forestry administration in most countries.
§ Gabon and Cameroon have now created directorates
within their forestry administration for the design and
implementation of all policies related to NTFPs
(FAO, ICRAF, CIFOR…)
§ Still lacking for bushmeat and fish as well as in terms
of gender equity…
Raised awareness

24. Environmental services

25. § Background noise since
Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment
§ Recognition: Biodiversity,
water, carbon (REDD)
§ Payment for Environmental
Services offers potential
§ Infancy stage in the region
and realization is unknown

26. Forest Good or
Service (in
discounted US$/ha
or in US$/ha/yr)
General
(Pearce &
Pearce 2001)
Cameroon
(Lescuyer
2007)
Gabon
(National
Park)
(Lescuyer
2006)
Cameroon
(community
forests)
(Akoa Akoa,
2007)
Timber
200
-­‐
4,400
560
98
25-­‐78
Fuelwood
40
61
NA
165
NTFPs
0
-­‐
100
41
-­‐
70
3
172
GeneUc
resources
0
-­‐
3,000
7
1<
Na
RecreaUon
2
-­‐
470
19
4
34
Watershed
benefits
15
-­‐
850
54
-­‐
270
0
998
Climate
benefits
360
-­‐
2,200
842
-­‐
2,265
211
632
OpUon
values
2
-­‐12
3
NA
NA
Non-­‐use
values
4,400
19
-­‐
32
24
NA

27. Land cover(LC)
Total Carbon
(millions tonnes) % C Total
1. Closed evergreen lowland forests 27 299 59.3
2. Swamp forests 1 761 3.8
3. Sub-mountain forests (900-1500m) 770 1.7
4. Mountain forests (>1500m) 119 0.3
Humid dense Forest (1-4) 29
949
65.1
Closed deciduous forests 2 791 6.1
Mosaic forest/croplands 3 955 8.6
Mosaic forest/savannas 3 403 7.4
Deciduous woodland 4 149 9.0
Grassland, shrub land, sparse trees 1 770 3.8
Congo
basin
sub-­‐region
(TSR) 46
016 100.0
State
of
Forests
2008

28. § Conservation concessions:€ 13 million per year for
the Ngoyla Mintom forest (Karsenty, 2007); € 10
million for the forest reserve of Dzanga-Sangha
(Lescuyer, 2008)
§ Certification has yet to provide the expected
“premium” on the sensitive markets
§ REDD (Carbon) although the obvious candidate of
choice does not stand against opportunity costs of
agro-business development (e.g. oil palm or
plantain)
Economics are not good…
State
of
Forests
2010;
FORAFAMA
project

29. Policy recommendations

30. § The quest for a globally accepted definition of
sustainable forest management is pointless
§ Management should be:
– defined by societal demands
– designed across sectors at the landscape level imagining
new forms of land-uses
§ Outcomes should be monitored based on agreed
objectives; unrealistic, unachievable or vague targets
are of little use
§ Informal sectors should be recognized and proper
regulatory frameworks developed to manage these
resources
§ Private-public sector collaboration should become the
norm rather than the exception

31. OBSERVATOIRE
DES
FORETS
DE
L’AFRIQUE
CENTRALE
De
Wasseige
C.,
D.
Devers,
P.
de
Marcken,
R.
Eba’a
Atyi,
R.
Nasi,
P.
Mayaux,
Eds
(2009)
Les
Forêts
du
Bassin
du
Congo
–
Etat
des
Forêts
2008.
Office
des
publicaUons
de
l’Union
Européenne.
Luxembourg,
426
p.
Les
forêts
du
bassin
du
Congo
-­‐
Etat
des
Forêts
2010.
(2012)
Eds
:
de
Wasseige
C.,
de
Marcken
P.,
Bayol
N.,
Hiol
Hiol
F.,
Mayaux
Ph.,
Desclée
B.,
Nasi
R.,
Billand
A.,
Defourny
P
et
Eba’a
R..–
Office
des
publicaUons
de
l’Union
Européenne.
Luxembourg.
276
p.
hWp://www.observatoire-­‐comifac.net/