From October 13th to 16th the Africa Forest Law Enforcement and Governance ministerial meeting will take place in Yaoundé, Cameroon. Whether this initiative will result in any concrete actions to tackle the immense problem of illegal and unsustainable logging operations in Africa remains to be seen. In the meantime, illegal logging in Cameroon’s forests continues to wreak havoc on the environment, economy and local peoples’ livelihoods.

The abuse of the legal logging licences known as "ventes de coupe" to launder illegal timber into the market place is being systematically perpetrated in the country, including by subsidiaries of European companies. Ventes de coupe are titles to log an area of 2,500 hectares of the non-permanent forest estate over a three year period. Due to the short-term nature of the title, and the lack of requirement for any management plan, the forests are often logged in a highly destructive manner. The titles are also frequently abused to organise illegal logging over a much larger area.

In March 2003, researchers from Forests Monitor, together with the Cameroonian NGO Centre pour l’Environnement et le Developpement (CED) and Greenpeace, investigated the operations of two Dutch companies, Wijma and Reef, in the forests of South and Southwest Provinces. This was the second time Forests Monitor and Greenpeace had investigated the operations of Wijma, having discovered widespread illegal logging by the company in July 2002 (see www.forestsmonitor.org). The company has been sanctioned by the government on several occasions for logging illegally. Illegal logging by these European-headquartered companies has caused environmental and social damage locally, as well as robbing the Cameroonian government and communities of legitimate timber revenues.

The Dutch logger and timber importer Wijma claims to be committed to "full compliance with all relevant forest regulations" in Africa and "to achieving environmental best practice throughout its activity whenever this is practical". Despite these claims, in March 2003 investigators from Forests Monitor, CED and Greenpeace documented further evidence of the company’s illegal activities in Cameroon. The investigations uncovered serious abuses of the company’s legally allocated logging title vente de coupe 09-04-59, situated in the department of the Ntem valley in South Province, which Wijma exploited in 2001. Using a GPS receiver, the NGOs recorded two extensive road networks to the East and South of the legal logging area, 11 log ponds and abandoned logs and stumps over an area of about 14 km2 outside Wijma’s legal boundaries. Abandoned logs with the markings of the legal title 09-04-59 and the company’s markings (GWZ) were found in log ponds well outside their official limits, a clear method of laundering illegal timber into the marketplace. The investigators also found that the company had illegally logged significant amounts of timber from an unallocated forest management unit UFA 09-022. As well as the lost timber revenues to the government and communities, this illegal logging operation had serious consequences for local people, with illegal road construction and logging having destroyed agricultural crops and small-scale plantations cultivated by the local farmers. At least 27 local farmers in three villages were affected, with immediate consequences for local livelihoods as both food and cash crops were destroyed.

Reef is a Dutch company specialising in the production of wood for marine construction. It prides itself on its environmental reputation and is a founder member of the FSC-Netherlands. However, in March 2003 Forests Monitor, CED and Greenpeace found illegal logging operations in Reef’s ventes de coupe (VC) 11-06-12 and 11-06-13 in the Southwest province of Cameroon. In VC 11-06-12, Reef works with the Cameroonian company SEPFCO. Forests Monitor, CED and Greenpeace investigators found a road network about 5 kilometres away from the legal logging area, with 6 log ponds along the illegal roads. Logs carrying the markings of the legal title were found in the log ponds, indicating fraudulent use well outside the legal logging limits. In addition, numerous plantations were destroyed by the illegal logging operation. In VC 11-06-13, the villagers of Molongo, situated inside the vente de coupe, had erected traditional barriers to stop logging in protest at Reef and partner PMF Wood’s failure to keep promises made: they had promised to build substantial bridges that could be used by villagers after the logging operation had finished, but instead had constructed temporary bridges that would last just long enough to evacuate the logs; they had promised to build several good roads; they had promised to provide materials for the construction of a village community hall, church and school. The one road that the village had itself invested in was destroyed by the logging operations, rendering it impassable by car and even on foot in the rainy season. Local farmers’ cocoa plantations had also been destroyed by the logging operation. In addition, investigators found a log pond outside the southern boundary of the vente de coupe containing several logs fraudulently marked with the legal logging title.

In both the Wijma and Reef cases above, not only was there evidence of logging outside permitted areas and the fraudulent use of legal logging titles to launder illegally felled timber into the market place, operations also caused severe hardship for local communities, destroying subsistence and cash crops. To make matters worse, promises of infrastructure developments that had been made were unfulfilled, and local revenues had not been paid. In such cases, logging operations exacerbate poverty amongst local communities as well as robbing the government of Cameroon of timber revenues. The NGOs have used the evidence gathered to press the companies to pay full and immediate compensation to all the local farmers and communities whose livelihoods have been damaged by these operations, with Reef having now made an initial payment into the Molongo village fund. The NGOs have also urged the Cameroonian government to take appropriate measures to sanction the companies.

By: Forests Monitor, e-mail: mail@forestsmonitor.org

- Kenya: A simple wasp adds a further problem to Eucalyptus

Kenya is a semi-arid country and is classified among countries affected by chronic water scarcity in both its urban and rural areas. Within such context, the planting of eucalyptus trees appears to be suicidal. And it certainly is.

Less than 2 percent of Kenya’s total land surface is now under forest cover. However, its significance is enormous, since forests in mountainous areas shelter the headwaters of Kenya’s major rivers and exercise a natural regulatory control over the river flow. Without them, siltation and flooding will increase, affecting millions of Kenyans. The severe drought from 1998 to 2000 has been partially attributed to the country's disappearing forest cover.

Indeed, forests have been shrinking. Logging and conversion of natural forests into agricultural land can be identified as direct causes of deforestation, while there are also underlying causes including export-driven agriculture schemes, the liberalization process --that has put a lot of emphasis on the privatization of public land and forests resulting in the non recognition of customary resource tenure-- structural adjustment programmes increasing pressure to exhaust natural resources, political interests resulting in forest excisions by the government to buy political patronage.

To counter the problem, Kenya established significant areas of tree plantations during the 1970s and 1980s. However, much of the effort was geared to fast-growing alien tree species, which were planted in large scale projects by government and non-governmental programmes with the eucalyptus as favourite.

However, the negative impacts of such plantations --which worsened along the large-scale pattern-- soon became evident for the people of Kenya. In fact, impacts on water became so obvious that one of the Kikuyu names for eucalyptus (munyua maai), means the "drinker of water". Even some government officials, like the District Forest Officer of Kakamega, Ms Monica Kalenda, have acknowledged that planting of eucalyptus trees in water catchment areas and along rivers had led to drying up of many feeder rivers in the province. There are areas on the outskirts of the Kakamega forest where the trees have virtually led to the drying up of many streams.

To make matters worse, an exotic pest, identified as the gall-forming wasp, Blue Gum Chalcid (Ophelimus eucalypti), is currently threatening eucalyptus trees in Western Kenya. The Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI) said the pest has badly damaged young trees and nursery seedlings in parts of Vihiga, Busia and Kisumu districts. The pest's origin was identified as Australia, the home of eucalyptus. It has also been recorded to attack eucalyptus species in other countries like Morocco, Iran, Israel and Italy.

In sum, monoculture eucalyptus plantations not only impact on the environment but are themselves prone to pest infestations resulting from them being large-scale monocultures. The "technical solution" to the problem would be the widespread spraying of pesticides, which would further impact on people and the environment. The real solution will obviously imply a totally different approach to tree plantations, based on the locally-agreed upon use of a diversity of species having positive social and environmental impacts.

Article based on information from: “Pest Alert”, Kenya Forestry Research Institute,
http://www.kefri.org/announcement.htm ; “Kefri identifies pest affecting Eucalyptus in western Kenya”, Kenya Forests Working Group, http://www.kenyaforests.org/kefri_pest.htm ; “Residents cautioned against Eucalyptus”, Francis Nzaywa, East African Standard, April 10, 2003 ,
http://www.eastandard.net/archives/April/thur10042003/provincial/western/western01.htm

- South Africa: Sustainability, Protected Areas, and Development

The term "sustainability", which also means "maintainability" is readily and loosely used nowadays and is often quoted as the "magic buzzword" whenever politicians and entrepreneurs alike wish to gain easy acceptance for a proposed development or programme. However, when one takes a closer look at the notion of sustainable development ("economic activity that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs") and at our track record in terms of natural resource use, the truth is that we are still very far off from achieving "sustainability".

A retrospective evaluation of conservation and sustainable development projects shows that most have not achieved successful conservation nor sustainability and do not address human needs.

At the first "Earth Summit" (Rio 92) the Contracting Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, declared themselves conscious of the importance of biological diversity for evolution and for maintaining life-sustaining systems of the biosphere. Also, one of the most significant achievements of the Rio Summit was the laying down of the Precautionary Principle as a universal guideline for consideration of any action that "may" harm biological diversity!

Sadly, ten years later, at the second World Summit for Sustainable Development (Johannesburg, 2002) it was recognised that we are still failing with regard to achieving sustainability! Commitments were again made, amongst other things, to reduce biodiversity loss and reverse the current trend in natural resource degradation.

Looking at the situation at South Africa, an estimated 10% of South Africa's mammal species are threatened, 2% of our bird species, 12% of our reptile species, 16% of amphibians and 36% of our freshwater fish species. The total number of threatened plant taxa approximately doubled between 1980 and 1995 and the trend is that the topsoil continues to be lost and virgin land is subject to "development schemes" at an alarming rate. Tourism and recreation are recognised amongst the list of threats to biodiversity and wilderness! The Tourism Programme of the United Nations Environment Programme states: "In fact, it (tourism) can be compared in its deleterious impacts and environmental risks to any other major industry."

The global norm for conservation is for countries to set aside at least 10% of the land for conservation. In South Africa, about 6% of the land is formally protected for conservation purposes. However, even that approach has not gone without destruction. Examples are widespread as a historical consequence of the country's 178 national parks and reserves. As Mavuso Msimang, Chief Executive of National Parks in South Africa has written, "Most of our wilderness areas were not empty of people and the establishment of national parks often involved the dispossession, removal, exclusion and social dislocation of indigenous communities". Examples include the pastoral inhabitants of Namaqualand in the western Cape exiled from the Namakwalandse Burgersvereniging facility, several thousand victims of the Tsitsikama forestry reserves in the eastern Cape, and the vast Kruger National Park, over 2 million ha in size, which exceeds the state of Israel and was subject to several waves of removal over the past century.

The broad definition of the environment includes the natural, economic, and social and political environments in which we move and reside. The limited, unequally distributed, resources of the world cannot cope with the present globalised pattern of consumption. Policy-makers make development decisions and these are primarily driven by immediate and short term (very occasionally medium term) social, economic and/or political needs and wants. The very long term --in fact, timeless-- needs of nature, including animals, plants, soil and future generations of people, fail to be taken adequately into account.

The time is overdue for some solid commitment to the physical and biophysical environment through demonstrable application of the precautionary principle. Even within the framework of the set conservation goals, a quick look at the maps of the National Parks and other important conservation areas such as the Greater St Lucia and the Drakensberg Parks, show that development, "subdivision" and privatization have taken place at a dramatic rate over the last twenty years or so and that it has escalated beyond acceptable proportions. Moreover, "sustainability" has first to get right on the 94% of the land in South Africa that has the primary purpose of making money (including many high intensity private game reserves and lodges).

It is a moral and ethical obligation towards the next generation. They must be left with some options of their own and the present generation has not the right, nor any longer the excuse of ignorance, to deprive them any further.

Article based on information from: "Viewpoint - Protected Areas and Sustainability", sent by Philip Owen, Geasphere, e-mail: owen@soft.co.za ; http://www.geasphere.co.za ; "Rethinking Land Reform in South Africa: An Alternative Approach to Environmental Justice", Charles Geisler and Essy Letsoalo, 2000, http://www.socresonline.org.uk/5/2/geisler.html

- Uganda: Deforestation, corruption and the false solution of plantations

The acting commissioner for forestry, Deo Byarugaba, said a recent study by the forestry department revealed that indiscriminate logging and charcoal burning had destroyed hundreds of square miles of forest land.

Following the alarming rate of deforestation, and a public outcry that most vehicles carrying timber had army and police escorts, President Yoweri Museveni in May appointed Capt. James Okello as commandant of a Forest Produce Monitoring Unit (FPMU), charged with empowering the forestry staff which falls under the Ministry of Water, Lands and Environment. The swift activities of FPMU has since found out that those perpetuating the racket also include forestry officials, police, district councils, MPs, Movement leaders and Internal Security Organisation (ISO) personnel.

Among top government officials whose vehicles or employees were recently cited in the timber/firewood deal were the energy and mineral development minister, Syda Bbumba and justice and constitutional affairs minister Janat Mukwaya.

Military officers who have recently been either directly involved or whose vehicles and employees were implicated are the commandant of the Nakasongola-based UP-DF motorised brigade, Col. Samuel Kawagga and Reserve Force commander Lt. Gen. Salim Saleh's aide, Lt. Col. Kagezi.

Forestry officials said the district with the worst forest destruction record is Mukono and it has been established that most of the logs in the timber sheds there had been illegally acquired. Sources said FPMU found difficulty in arresting illegal timber dealers in Mukono because some said they were encouraged to continue with the trade by government officials.

However, the solution coming from Byarugaba is as worrisome as the problem: "The way forward is to commercialize tree planting. My department is now looking for investors to plant trees for value. We allocate land to prospective investors who grow trees and harvest them for sell," he declared.

What Byarugaba appears to ignore is the existing experience regarding the impacts of tree plantations. Norwegian carbon sink plantation projects --which began to be implemented in Uganda in 1996-- have implied the eviction of hundreds of village people to make way for plantation trees. One of those projects implied the occupation of between 80,000 and 100,000 hectares of land by pines and eucalyptus (see WRM Bulletin Nº 35).

Within that context, commissioner Byarugaba's declarations appear to be paving the way for further foreign investments in the plantation sector. Tree plantations will not only not solve the existing problems, but will generate new impacts on forests, water, soils, biodiversity and people. It is therefore absurd to portray them as a solution to the real problem of deforestation. But maybe Byarugaba has a reason?

Article based on information from: "Ministers, Army Bosses Named in Timber Scam", Emmy Allio and Felix Osike, New Vision (Kampala), August 25, 2003, http://allafrica.com/stories/200308250672.html