REPUBLIC OF CONGO

The Republic of Congo (Congo Brazzaville) has a long history of forest management initiatives and reforestation programmes. Forest Management Units (FMUs) were established in the 1970s as the basic units for the implementation of management, conservation, reforestation and exploitation of the forests. There are currently 34 FMUs, ranging from 200,000 to 1 million ha.

However, despite the existence of management plans, few were actually implemented, a situation made worse by the countrys descent into civil war in 1993. At the end of the war in 1997, the authorities lack of organisation and resources resulted in unauthorised exploitation of the forests.

The Republic of Congo enacted a new forest law in 2000, which is based on the principles of sustainable, participatory forest management, with the involvement of local communities, the private sector and NGOs. The policy aims for the development of forest inventories, followed by the preparation and implementation of management plans for all FMUs across the country. There is also a target for 100,000 ha of new eucalyptus plantations within a decade. Logging is now entirely run by the private sector, including many small and medium-sized enterprises, and the country is emerging as an important supplier of tropical timber to Europe.

The rate of deforestation is very low in the Republic of Congo, however there are areas in the densely populated south of the country which have been deforested as a result of shifting cultivation, brushfires and deliberate burning. In addition, NGOs have made allegations of corruption against the government and private sector involving illegal logging, and tax and export duty evasion. It is clear that a lack of resources has reduced the effectiveness of enforcement measures and the implementation of management plans.

On a more positive note, the Republic of Congo will be one of six central African countries to benefit from a £1 million satellite, funded by the UK, which will track illegal logging and enable governments, NGOs and local communities to prevent the further loss of forest.

For information about the EU FLEGT Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) with the Republic of Congo, see the Republic of Congo VPA page.

DOCUMENTS

DATE	TITLE	AUTHOR
01/01/2013	Deforestation trends in the Congo Basin: reconciling economic growth and forest protection ...	C. Megevand et al.
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30/05/2011	Congo Basin Program Briefing IDH’s Congo Basin Program has now officially started its activities. The main objective of this ...	Congo Basin Program
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01/09/2009	Statistics 2008 Timber trade statistics from a number of Central and West African countries for 2007-2008. ...	ATIBT (Association Technique Internationale des Bois Tropicaux)
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30/07/2008	Conning the Congo This new investigative report allegedly exposes another hidden aspect of export driven resource extraction ...	Greenpeace
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28/04/2008	REM: First field mission report for Congo Brazzaville The first field mission report produced by REM, the independent forest monitor in Congo Brazzaville, ...	Resource Extraction Monitoring (REM)/ Congolese Ministry of Forest Economy (MEF)
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01/02/2008	Forest Products Trade between China and Africa: An Analysis of Imports and Exports Recent media coverage of China's efforts to secure access to natural resources in Africa suggests ...	Forest Trends (Kerstin Canby, James Hewitt, Luke Bailey, Eugenia Katsigris, Sun Xiufang)
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03/12/2007	Republique du Congo: Communiqu final, sanctionnant les travaux de l'atelier national sur le processus FLEGT Sets out work to be done under FLEGT as decided at the national workshop organised in Brazaville on 3-4 ...	Ministry of Forest Economy (Republic of Congo)
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01/09/2007	Capacity Building in the Congo Basin and Implementation of Independent Monitoring of FLEG (IM-FLEG) in the Republic of Congo Project description of IFM work being done in the Republic of Congo towards Forest Law Enforcement and ...	Forests Monitor/ Resource Extraction Monitoring (REM)
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01/02/2007	Concessions to poverty: The environmental, social and economic impacts of industrial logging concessions in Africa's rainforests This report addresses the issues surrounding the sustainability and the impacts of the industrial logging ...	Forests Monitor
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25/05/2006	Status of Tropical Forest Management 2005 Is forest management improving in the tropics? This report sets out to answer that question. It provides ...	ITTO
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22/11/2005	Failing the Forests: Europe's Illegal Timber Trade Based on trade data for six key timber-producing regions – the Amazon Basin, the Baltic States, ...	WWF
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01/05/2004	Business role in the Congo Politicians and donor agencies are focusing on the Congo Basin. Difficult questions are being raised ...	Timber Trades Journal (Rupert Oliver)
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01/06/2003	Legal Origin of Timber as a Step Towards Sustainable Forest Management in Africa Argues that although voluntary partnerships may produce some positive outcomes at the local level, real ...	SGS for the WWF/World Bank Alliance
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30/10/2002	Forest Law Assessment in Selected African Countries This report has been produced as one of two major outputs of work commissioned by the World Bank/WWF ...	SGS for the WWF/World Bank Alliance
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NEWS

DATE	TITLE	AUTHOR
31/12/2012	The year in rainforests 2012 was another year of mixed news for the world's tropical forests. This is a look at some of ...	Mongabay.com
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14/11/2012	Under threat: Deforestation pressure on Congo Basin forests increasing Yaounde - Rainforests in the Congo Basin are being cleared at an alarming rate amid global demand for ...	CIFOR Forests Blog
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26/07/2012	Ten Central African countries to take part in UN-backed forest monitoring system Ten Central African countries will take part in a United Nations-backed initiative that will help them ...	UN News Centre
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17/07/2012	Cameroon to protect forests with satellite monitoring Yaounde - Cameroon has joined a Congo Basin initiative that uses satellite imagery to monitor changes ...	Reuters AlertNet
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31/03/2012	Congo moves to combat illegal logging in the Congo Basin Brazzaville, Congo - The Congolese government on Thursday launched a project in Brazzaville to combat ...	Afrique en Ligne
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07/03/2012	EU-funded study underlines importance of Congo Basin for global climate and biodiversity With its 1.7 billion square kilometres, an area equivalent to 5 times the size of Germany, the Congo ...	Science Codex
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10/03/2011	Trust expands African rainforest available for sustainable-wood; lack of buyers threatens move Brazzaville, Congo — The Forest Trust said Thursday 571,000 hectares more of African rainforest ...	The Associated Press
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17/02/2011	The Republic of Congo, home to the second largest forest in Africa, employs Helveta to manage its forests and logging activities The government of the Republic of Congo has signed a contract with UK-based technology company Helveta ...	Helveta
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18/11/2010	Saving trees in the Congo Basin: is REDD a solution or a quagmire? The Congo Basin is rich in forests and poor in cash, which makes it hard to resist offers of easy money ...	Ecosystem Marketplace
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18/08/2010	Preparing for REDD in the Republic of Congo A new WRI project will quantify forest degradation and associated greenhouse gas emissions in the forests ...	WRI (World Resources Institute)
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22/06/2010	Deforestation threatens south with famine Kinkala, Congo - The trees are falling in Pool, and there are plenty of people to hear the sound. In ...	IPS News
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20/05/2009	Responsible forest management in Congo Basin has bright future following latest certification milestone Yaounde, Cameroon - The Congo Basin is now home to over four million hectares (ha) of sustainably managed ...	WWF
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11/05/2009	The EU and Republic of Congo announce system to eradicate illegal logging The Republic of Congo and the EU have announced a new system to ensure that by 2011 no illegal timber ...	Mongabay.com
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10/05/2009	EU, Congo to protect tropical forest with timber pact The European Union reached an agreement with the Republic of Congo to halt illegal timber imports to ...	Ghana Business News
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09/05/2009	EU to conclude deal to stop illegal timber extraction from Republic of Congo First bilateral pact with Congo Basin nation uses power of European Market to curb rise of illegal timber ...	European Forest Institute
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08/10/2008	Indonesia, Papua NG, Vietnam ask UN for assistance to combat deforestation Hanoi - Three of Asias most rapidly deforesting countries - Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Vietnam - ...	Green Assembly Asia Environment
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30/07/2008	Conning the Congo Just as the need to save the worlds forests for climate protection is becoming widely recognised, we ...	Greenpeace International (Netherlands)
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30/07/2008	Greenpeace continues to make groundless allegations against Danzer Group Baar, Switzerland - The recent allegations made by Greenpeace that Danzer Group evaded paying taxes in ...	Danzer Group (Switzerland)
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17/06/2008	Spy satellite will monitor illegal logging across six African countries A spy satellite is to be trained on the vast rainforests of central Africa as part of a British project ...	Independent (UK)
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27/05/2008	Congo basin forest is biggest for approved logging A tract of tropical forest in the Congo Basin mapped with the help of local pygmies has become the largest ...	Reuters (USA)
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11/10/2007	Congo pygmies go high-tech to protect forest home Dakar, Senegal - When Congo Republic's northern pygmies go out into the forest these days, some ...	Reuters South Africa (South Africa)
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09/08/2007	Congo forest company goes 'green' A siren is heard blasting over the town of Pokola in the northern part of the Republic of Congo, warning ...	WWF International (Switzerland)
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16/06/2007	China's rise: Hope or doom for Africa? 'A win-win situation' is how the Chinese government describes its economic relations with Africa. ...	Sunday Vision (Uganda)
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08/06/2007	Loggers threaten a third of rainforests in Congo Basin The rainforests of central Africa are being systematically plundered for their hardwood timber trees, ...	The Independent (UK)
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05/03/2007	Towards a better knowledge of forest ecosystems Rome, Italy - Stressing that improved forest policies and sustainable forest management necessarily entail ...	UN FAO (Italy)
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14/07/2006	Now available worldwide: CIEarth ' the premier application for forest inventory and community resource mapping Helveta has released its exciting new mapping application ' CIEarth. CIEarth enables interactive ...	Helveta (UK)
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23/06/2006	Conservation efforts in Congo Basin appear effective A new assessment of Africa's massive Congo Basin rain forest finds that it is less degraded than ...	Voice of America (USA)
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11/02/2005	World leaders must take action on Congo agreement African heads of state and French President Jacques Chirac have jointly pledged to protect the Congo ...	Environmental Data Interactive (UK)
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01/11/2004	Setting the pace: CIB announces major new set-aside areas Brazzaville, Republic of Congo - Congolaise Industrielle des Bois (CIB) moves a step closer to FSC certification ...	Congolaise Industrielle des Bois (Republic of Congo)
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24/06/2004	Central African officials to meet in Congo on regional environment strategy Central African forestry officials are to hold a long-delayed meeting Friday to hammer out a regional ...	Terra Daily
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PRESENTATIONS

DATE	TITLE	AUTHOR
07/02/2013	Independent monitoring of forest law enforcement and governance (IM-FLEG), Republic of Congo	Brad Mulley, Forests Monitor
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25/06/2010	Observation Indépendante de la mise en application de la loi forestière et de la gouvernance en République du Congo: Aperçu des résultats	Serge Moukouri, REM
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25/06/2010	REDD et FLEGT en République du Congo	Sylvie Nadège M'Foutou-Banga, Organisation pour la Développement et les Droits Humains au Congo
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25/06/2010	Mise en oeuvre de L'APV FLEGT en République du Congo	Lambert Mabiala, Association Cercle d'Appui a la Gestion Durable de Forets (CAGDF)
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24/06/2009	Experience of the private sector with the VPA FLEGT process in the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville)	Olivier Desmet, Congolaise Industrielle des Bois (CIB)
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24/06/2009	Civil society involvement in the Republic of Congo's VPA	Iola Leal, FERN
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24/06/2009	EU-Congo: FLEGT VPA	Julia Falconer, European Commission
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23/06/2009	TFT update - progress and challenges	Annie Adams, Tropical Forest Trust (TFT)
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23/06/2009	The domestic timber sector in the Congo Basin	Paolo Cerutti, CIFOR
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19/01/2009	Overview of VPA negotiations and their challenges	Philip Mikos, European Commission
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18/06/2008	US efforts in Congo Basin Forest Partnership	U.S. Embassy Beijing (C Sherry Hong)
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01/11/2007	China-Africa Forest Product Trade: An overview	Forest Trends (Sun Xiufang)
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09/07/2007	SM Certification in the Congo Basin region	Interafrican Forest Industries Association (Herv Bourguignon)
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26/01/2007	China and the global market for forest products: Look at Africa and Russia	Forest Trends (Kerstin Canby)
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25/01/2007	FSC certification in Africa: Legal harvesting rights Vs. traditional rights	DLH (Lucas van der Walt)
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21/07/2006	FSC controlled wood standards in the Congo Basin: Pilot study	FSC UK (Richard Robertson)
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20/01/2006	IFM in the Republic of Congo	REM (Stuart Wilson)
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EVENTS

DATE	TITLE
Monday 3rd December 2007	Republic of Congo National Workshop on the FLEGT Process ...
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Tuesday 3rd July 2007	Central Africa FLEGT Forum - Congo Brazzaville ...
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Wednesday 15th February 2006	International Seminar: Responsible Trade of Forest Products Between Spain and Countries in Central Africa The seminar was organised by WWF Spain, with the assistance of the ministers of Congo Republic and Cameroon. ...
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Thursday 19th January 2006	Illegal Logging Update and Stakeholder Consultation Number 7 The seventh in a regular series of meetings coordinated by Chatham House and funded by DFID. The meeting ...
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Monday 6th December 2004	Commission For Africa ' Forest Programme Brainstorm A brainstorming session on illegal logging held in part to feed into the Commission for Africa Report, ...
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LINKS

TITLE	DESCRIPTION	REPORT
Congo Basin Forest Partnership	The Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP) is an association of almost 50 governmental and nongovernmental organisations that works to promote sustainable management of Congo Basin forest ecosystems and wildlife, and improve the lives of people living in the region. It was originally agreed at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in September 2002.	Broken link
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Timber Trade Action Plan (TTAP)	TTAP is a project funded by the European Union. It is the timber industry response to the FLEGT Action Plan. TTAP offers Europe's importers, traders and their suppliers an opportunity to be at the forefront of efforts to promote legal forestry, and to access premium European markets. TTAP is currently working in Indonesia, Malaysia, Cameroon, Congo Brazzaville and Gabon.	Broken link
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