Congo Basin: Gabon

Active Locations

• Libreville

Facilitating Sustainable Forest Management in the Congo Basin

The Congo Basin represents the second largest area of contiguous, moist tropical forest in the world. 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 percent of the Congo Basin's forests are under commercial logging leases. The Tropical Forest Foundation (TFF) recognized that inadequate and improper forest management practices were threatening the long-term viability of these forests, significantly reducing their economic potential and resulting in negative social and environmental impacts.

In April 2008, TFF joined forces with the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) and the Wildlife Conservation Society and FORM International to implement a sustainable forest management training model in Gabon. This model that has proven successful in the Brazilian Amazon, Guyana and Indonesia.

Until recently, there were few incentives to promote sustainability in logging operations in the Congo Basin. Growing international and regional concern for the longevity of these forests, however, has increased interest and encouraged change. New forest policies and legislation have been introduced in most countries of the region. Because of concern regarding illegal and unsustainable timber harvest and the bushmeat trade, the forest products sector 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).

TFF’s experience is that on-site training and hands-on demonstration are the most effective way to shift private companies’ and local governments’ approaches to harvesting wood. Because Gabon provides major social and environmental services to 60 million inhabitants and is home to a rich diversity of animal and plant species, TFF understood that the key to the Gabon project was to move quickly and work closely with the forest products sector.

In the summer of 2008, TFF partnered with the Forest School of Gabon, Ecole nationale des eaux et forêts (ENEF), approximately 30-45 minutes from Libreville, to conduct seminars for students. Teaching then extended into the field, with on-site training programs conducted at partner Gabon-based timber organization, SEEF’s, tropical forest site where living accommodations were available for students’ use. TFF also conducted training on-site at private companies participating in TFF’s training programs.

The main objective in Gabon is to train local harvesters including students at ENEF and private organizations (both domestic and international) on the benefits and implementation of Reduced Impact Logging (RIL). In conjunction with this training, TFF has begun conducting studies that compare conventional logging with RIL in the Congo Basin, the first of their kind in the region.

Six seminars were carried out in the first year of the program at the ENEF School and the on-site training program is underway. TFF’s training model teaches the impacts of forest exploitation, how to reduce these impacts through RIL and its economic benefits. Students have had the opportunity to deeply explore the issue of forest exploitation and best practices for limiting this exploitation through sustainable forest management, specifically RIL, as well as the importance of third party audits and environmental certification.

Beyond the classroom, TFF has begun on-site demonstration that gives students and private logging companies the opportunity to properly take forest inventory, plan roads and skid trails and ensure environmental safety measures during exploitation. In partnership with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), TFF has also begun to demonstrate best practices for protecting local fauna and flora while implementing RIL.

For additional information on TFF Gabon, visit http://tffgabon.toile-libre.org.

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Local Contact Information 

E-mail
Karel.picquenot@gmail.com

Contact Person
M. Karel Picquenot

Phone
(00-241)-07-03-84-61

Fax
(00-241)-76-11-93

Web site
http://tffgabon.toile-libre.org