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Formalization of chainsaw milling in Central Africa: Opportunities and constraints

Date post: 13-Nov-2014
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During the last two decades, all countries in Central Africa adopted new laws for the management of their forests. Two major frameworks contributed to the drafting of those laws. On the one side, the ideas synthetized by the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio, such as a more responsible forest management, new roles for rural communities in the management of forested landscapes, and a more equitable redistribution of the benefits accrued from the exploitation of the forest. On the other, the structural adjustment plans that all countries in Central Africa had to enact as a consequence of the economic crisis that hit in the 1980s. The plans pushed all countries to look for desperately needed economic resources, and in the respective forestry sectors, this resulted in the creation of new fiscal schemes that applied to clearly demarcated, large-scale forest management units, generally leased to internationally owned, export-oriented, logging companies. In the process, smaller-scale forestry activities, such as those conducted by individual or small enterprises, normally with chainsaws in areas not demarcated for large-scale harvesting, fell below the radar of policies and laws that remained focused on increasing State revenues. As a consequence, such activities developed and grew in the informal economy, largely unregulated for, only to be "rediscovered" by the State in the 2000s, when national and international pressures mounted to fight illegal logging and timber trade. This paper examines the evolution and the characteristics of the informal timber sectors in the countries of Central Africa, with a focus on the potential impacts that "formalisation" efforts that may exert on rural communities and chainsaw millers' livelihoods and environment. CIFOR Scientists Paolo Cerutti Richard Eba'a Atyi, Guillaume Lescuyer along with Edouard Essiane and Raphael Tsanga presented on 5 June at the panel discussion "Formalisation of access and trade in land and natural resources: Inter‐sectoral lesson sharing from and for forestry, mining, fisheries, and land tenure" at the 2013 IASC conference held on Mount Fuji in Japan. For more information, please click here: http://www.cifor.org/events/upcoming-events/iasc.html
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THINKING beyond the canopy THINKING beyond the canopy Formalisation of chainsaw milling in Central Africa Opportunities and constraints IASC 2013, June 3 rd – 7 th , Mt Fuji, Japan
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Page 1: Formalization of chainsaw milling in Central Africa: Opportunities and constraints

THINKING beyond the canopy THINKING beyond the canopy

Formalisation of chainsaw milling in Central Africa

Opportunities and constraints

IASC 2013, June 3rd – 7th, Mt Fuji, Japan

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§  About 44 M ha §  About 7-8 M m3/yr §  3% tropical timber

production

www.observatoire-­‐comifac.net  

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www.observatoire-comifac.net

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Research questions •  What trade-offs to integrate chainsaw milling

and domestic markets into FLEGT-VPAs-LASs? – What governance? – What livelihoods? – What reforms?

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Data collection (2008-present) •  Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, DRC (Indonesia, Ecuador) •  Weekly data (markets and fluxes, day/night on main entry

points, land/water) •  Detailed analysis of forestry operations (harvesting,

transport, delivery, recovery rates and costs/benefits) •  “Upstream” and “downstream”

≈50

≈100

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[Percent of national sawnwood production, m3]

Source: State of the Forest 2010, chapter 4 (www.observatoire-comifac.net)

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Substantial revenues to rural economies

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Source: State of the Forest 2010, chapter 4 (www.observatoire-comifac.net)

[Costs to chainsaw millers]

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The loggers’ problems…

Gabon Ranking (%) Cameroun Ranking (%)Abuses of power by the administration

64% Administrative hassles 75%

Technical problems of harvesting 41% Abus de confiance 25%Road conditions 32% Negotiations with tree owners 18%Dangerous activities in the forest 32% Cost of materials and transport 18%Commercialisation in Libreville 21% Dangerous activities in the forest 17%Relations with buyer ("patron") 18% Bad conditions of materials 13%Lack of financial resources 12% Difficulties in finding "good" trees 10%Lack of legal title 10% Difficulties in finding buyers 10%Difficulties in finding "good" trees 7% Lack of financial resources 10%

Fees 8%Lack of legal title 7%Timber theft 7%

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A few consequences •  For operators

– Rule of law questioned – Precariousness and indebtedness – No investment

•  For society at large – Conflicts intra/inter institutions – No optimisation (data and services) – … – Loss of confidence in state institutions – A state with low legitimacy

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Options for a perfect world

•  Constraint: Status of the resource (agro-forestry areas) –  Recognition of customary rights (“ownership”) –  Recognition of right to “commercial” use

•  Constraint: Access to the resource –  Adopt logging titles “adapted” to needs –  Decentralise granting of titles

•  Constraint: Rights of access to the profession –  Different agreements for different titles –  Decentralise and incentivise agreements –  Sustain existing groups and facilitate the creation of

others

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Options for a real world?

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The Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) is one of the 15 centres supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR)

Merci beaucoup www.cifor.org/pro-formal

[email protected]


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