REM Rapport Annuel No. 1 OIF Congo Brazzaville - Forests Monitor

1. RESULTS
1.1. Observations on Forest Administration Operations
1.1.1. Opening of VPA Negotiations as Part of the FLEGT Process
In response to the official request from the Republic of the Congo on 15 March 2008, FLEG-
Trade (FLEGT) negotiations officially opened on 24 and 25 June with an aim at establishing
a Voluntary Partnership Agreement that will ensure European importation of only legally
harvested timber. REM was invited to the negotiations along with various observers of the
process. During the negotiations, the following schedule was adopted:
• 31 July to 23 October, 2008: Congo-EU technical sessions (videoconference) and work
by the National Consultative Group on timber legality, traceability and law enforcement
strategies, and negotiations with the EU to validate the traceability system and law
enforcement strategy. This work will end on 23 October, and will be validated during a
formal negotiating session in Brussels.
• 18 November 2008 to 13 January, 2009: Congo-EU technical sessions (videoconference)
and work by the National Consultative Group on the independent audit system, proposal
of a VPA implementation schedule and the permit issuance system. As before, this stage
will conclude with a formal negotiating session in Brussels.
• 4-13 February, 2009, a Congo-EU technical session by videoconference will finalise the
VPA implementation schedule.
• 24-25 March 2009: Signature of the VPA
The work and assigned objectives targeting the signature of a VPA denote strong
commitment by the government to reforming and improving its system and highlight a series
of challenges to be met by the Forest Administration in regard to forest law enforcement
modalities and timber traceability. In light of the outcome of the first working sessions, it
seems that the announced schedule will need to be pushed back to allow an effective
verification system to be designed.
1.1.2. National DDEF Conference
A Conference of Departmental Directors of Forest Economy, the second of its kind since the
start of the 2000s, was held in Impfondo in the department of Likouala from 24 to 28 March
2008. The objectives of this conference were to harmonise MEF agent and executive
knowledge and practices, identify and discuss a certain number of problems in regard to the
Forest Administration, and formulate recommendations on how to improve the system. This
initiative reveals the existence of real reflection within the MEF in order to identify weak
points in its service operations.
Among the directives cited, one can note:
• more systematic inspections of logging sites to prevent fraud, and of sawmills to monitor
lumber yields;
• rigorous monitoring of the fulfilment of the cahier de charge (including establishing base
camps);
• timely submission of the DDEFs’ annual reports to the DGEF, as well as company
monthly production reports to allow the 85/15 quota to be monitored;
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