Forest Certification and its impacts in Gabon

1
Forest Certification and its impacts in Gabon

• Richard Ebaa Atyi

2
Introduction

• Gabon is located in the West Coast of the Central
  Africa Sub-region
  
• Total land area of Gabon 26.7 million ha
• Forest cover 80.2 of the Total land area
• Exceptional biological diversity
• Population about 1.2 million inhabitants (low
  density)
  
• National Economy based on oil (80 of GDP)
• Timber harvesting and processing first source of
  employment from the private sector
  
• Timber timber industry centered on one main
  species Aucoumea klaineana (Okoumé)
  

3
Background

• Ownership and tenure
• Markets of timber products
• Public policy approach

4
Ownership and tenure

• All forests are an exclusive property of the the
  state of Gabon
  
• Forest categorized in two the state permanent
  forest domain and the rural forest domain
  
• All timber harvesting preconditioned by
  authorization from the forestry administration
  
• Local community enjoy customary usage rights over
  some forest products

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Ownership and tenure (continued)

• Three types of logging permits (CFAD, PFA and
  PGG)
  
• CFAD and PFA are logging concession granted
  within the permanent forest domain
  
• Logging companies have no rights to exploit NTFP
  in concessions granted to them
  
• Two types of taxes area based (about one US
  /ha, and value based according to species)
  
• 11 million ha already granted to 221 companies
• 50 of the area opened are managed by 13
  companies mostly owned by French business holdings

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Markets of timber products from Gabon

• Two production zones
• Production of approximately 4 million cubic meter
  of industrial roundwood (70 of the production
  exported as raw logs)
  
• SNBG in charge of the commercialization of timber
  products in international markets
  
• Asian markets (particularly China) are the most
  important for Gabons timber products
  
• Processed products are however exported towards
  Europe
  
• Certified products exported mainly to Europe

7
Public policy approach

• Dominant role of the government in the decision
  making process
  
• No institutionalized public debates on forest
  laws and regulations before adoption
  
• Logging enterprises are usually informed and
  capable of influencing the process
  
• Donor community has much influence in State
  decision making (WB, IMF)
  
• International ENGOs also influential
• Poor involvement of local populations

8
Initial support to forest certification Gabon

• Important role of international organization
• The EU/WWF project
• The National Working Group (NWG) on forest
  certification
  
• ITTO and ATO
• The Keurhout Foundation
• Government and sub-regional organizations

9
Forest certification schemes of interest

• Keurhout
• FSC
• PEFC
• PAFC?

10
Development of standards

• The Keurhout approach
• Minimum requirement
• The FSC approach
• No FSC working group
• No specified national standards endorsed by FSC
• The ATO/ITTO harmonized standards
• A regional approach to standards development
• Involvement of CIFOR and international ENGOs

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Main problems and constraints in forestry sector

• Poor capacity of the forestry administration
• Inadequate policy and institutional framework
• Inadequate control, monitoring and enforcement of
  forestry laws
  
• Lack of necessary preconditions for long term
  investment by the private sector
  
• Insufficient access of local actors to
  information
  
• Inadequate scientific knowledge

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Reaction to forest certification by policy makers
and local stakeholders

• Negative perception by forestry administration at
  the beginning
  
• Certification process dominated by NGOs
• Problem of sovereignty
• Certification does not take into account the
  specific environment of Gabon
  
• Improved perception later
• Potential positive impact on forest law
  enforcement

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Reaction of forest concessions managing
enterprises

• Initial positive reaction
• The Leroy Gabon case
• Negative opinion of FSC
• Fear of boycott of African tropical timber
  products in international markets
  
• IFIA code conduct
• Move towards the Keurhout scheme

14
Current status of forest land certification

• 1.5 millions ha certified under the Keurhout
  system
  
• Three companies involved (Leroy, Rougier,
  Thanry)
  
• No FSC certificate

15
Effects of forest certification

• Difficult to isolate the effects of forest
  certification from those of general policy
  changes of the last few years.
  
• Local population have a better say in forest
  management related issues (recent policy changes
  are partly responsible)
  
• Improved governance in the forestry sector
• Companies managing certified forest are more
  opened
  
• Effect on local development (Thanry case)

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Conclusion and prospects

• Forest certification can be considered as
  potential tool to promote sustainable forest
  management in Gabon
  
• Forest certification weak as a market incentive
  for SFM in Gabon (importance of Asian markets)
  
• Additional incentive to join forest certification
  from other processes such as the FLEG
  initiatives
  
• What certification system to join?
• New FSC Regional Office for Africa

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Conclusion and prospects (continued)

• Pan African Forest Certification?
• Phased approach to forest certification?
• Potentials for forest certification to contribute
  to SFM limited