Tropical Forest Foundation -- Africa


About - History - Leadership - Board of Directors RIL - TFF Standard for Reduced Impact Logging - Cost/Benefits Study - South America - Asia - Africa Mahogany Contributors - Corporate Sponsors - Partners Support TFF - Contributor's App. TFF Newsletters TFF Species Bulletins Press Releases/News/ Documents of Interest CITES Tomorrow's Forests Industry Can Help Consider This Links Contact Established in 1990, The Tropical Forest Foundation's Mission Statement is: TFF's primary mission is to promote sustainable tropical forest management by gathering and disseminating information about its benefits and by demonstrating and teaching proper management practices.		Reduced Impact Logging Training in Central Africa The tropical forests of the Congo Basin are of significant global importance, representing the second largest area of contiguous, moist tropical forest in the world. These forests provide major social and environment services to the 60 million people living in the region and provide a habitat for a rich diversity of flora and fauna species, many of which are on the endangered species list. Forest products provide a vital economic resource to the region and play an important role in regulating the region's climate. In fact, over 50% of the Congo Basin's forests are under commercial logging leases. Inadequate and/or improper forest management practices threaten the long-term viability of these forests, significantly reducing their economic potential and resulting in negative social and environmental impacts. Until recently, there have been few incentives to promote sustainability in logging operations. Growing international and regional concern for the longevity of these forests has increased interest and encouraged change. In the past few years, new forest policies and legislation have been introduced in most countries of the region. Timber and bushmeat trade markets have also faced increased pressures to improve forest management. Consequently, forest managers are demanding new skills to comply with legislative and market requirements related to sustainable forest management (SFM). Reduced impact logging (RIL) is one of the key elements of SFM, however few, if any, SFM training opportunities exist in the Congo Basin. Accordingly the Tropical Forest Foundation (TFF), in partnership with FORM-IPC, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and the USDA Forest Service are launching a project to set in motion the necessary foundation for RIL training opportunities and to create more interest in other aspects of forest management in the Congo Basin. TFF and its partners hope to develop and test a full range of RIL courses in the region, demonstrate the opportunities and feasibility of RIL techniques under various conditions, and create a capacity-building pilot program for forest stakeholders. Essential to the success of the program is cooperation with a logging company in each country. The logging company will not only provide the land and labor for the project, but also will become a test bed for research and education. It is also necessary that the program collaborate with the Ministry of Forests in each country in which a project is operating to ensure that policy is followed. In collaboration with FORM Ecology, TFF drafted an Africa forest management agreement that was recently signed by USAID for funding for the project, which will begin in fall 2003. For further information please contact Keister Evans, Executive Director at tff@igc.org.