Sold down the river - Salva le Foreste

GABON 49the company relinquished rights to part of the area and signed a “convention to declare thesite known as the falls of Mingouli a protected area” on 11 February 1998 with the Gabonesegovernment (see Rougier, p. 60). 58Social impactsGabon’s high dependency on foreign companies and the export of natural resources makes itvulnerable to global economic fluctuations. This was exemplified by the Asian economic crisisin 1997-98 which led to layoffs in Gabon. Prior to the crisis, the number of people employedby the forestry sector had been rising from 2,750 in 1992 to 6,000 in 1997. According toSNBG, the reduced quotas led to a 65% reduction in work. 59 Between July and September1998, Leroy Gabon sacked 140 workers who had been on temporary layoffs. 60 Somecommentators believe that the 1998 crisis could have been contained among the big companieshad the wood market been diversified. 61 The crisis and the reduction in the workforce led tothe abandonment of the logging villages, presumably increasing pressures in the cities.Local people do not have legally recognised rights over their lands, hence companies haveno formal obligations towards them. Because of resulting conflicts, companies tend to locatetheir operations as far as possible from villages to avoid problems. 62 But in spite of thedistances, villagers and companies cannot ignore each other completely. Logging operationshave negative and positive impacts. The European companies tend to build schools and healthcentres for the company workers and villagers, but these are of variable quality, and somecompanies make promises that are not fulfilled. (see box page 50)The social conditions for many logging company workers are less than ideal. Food isgenerally sold at very high prices, encouraging workers to turn to bushmeat hunting. Thestandard of workers’ accommodation is variable; in some camps, there is insufficientventilation. In some logging areas, only higher-level managers have access to running water;the majority of the staff have to depend on rivers which are far away and whose water is notalways potable due to pollution caused by the forestry operations. There is little provision forleisure activities, a problem because of the isolation of the logging areas. 63The operations of the logging companies have several health impacts. Logging trucks oftentransport over 50 tonnes of timber, even though this volume is illegal. Road accidents arefrequent. In 1998, for example, a log fell off a truck, killing one villager of Mibaka (nearLastoursville); in 1996, a similar accident also near Lastoursville killed four people and injuredmany others. Dust from logging operations dirties the laundry of villages near the concessions,considerably increasing women’s workload, and causes coughs in children. The servicesprovided by health centres vary. Because of the isolation of logging camps, workers cannoteasily travel to villages or cities to obtain medical services, which exacerbate the deficiencies inhealth centres. The health centre at the logging area of Mboumi, near Ndjole, has nomedicines, for instance, not even basic painkillers such as aspirin, nor the means to deal withaccidents in the processing plant. 64Companies logging the forests of GabonThere is a lack of transparent information about logging companies operating in Gabon, 65including about who is operating where, which hinders attempts to evaluate theirperformance. It is virtually impossible to assess whether these companies are contributing tothe development of the country or just taking the country’s natural resources without leavinganything positive and lasting behind. The map and data on concessionaires (see map page 38and Appendix) are taken from an official 1997 Ministry map which is not freely available andis of questionable accuracy. When researchers from the US group, Global Forests Watch, triedto obtain information about companies, the government referred them to the companies andthe companies referred them to the government. 66It is known, however, that foreign capital dominates the timber sector in Gabon. Asianlogging companies have now established an increasing presence in Gabon. Bordamur is ownedby the Malaysian company, Rimbunan Hijau, and has been described as the largest concessionholder in the country, with over one million hectares mainly in the north-west of the country. 67Another significant Malaysian-controlled operation is FOBO. But European-owned companiesremain significant concession holders, for example, Rougier (700,000 hectares), CEB-Thanry(505,000 hectares), Leroy-Sonae (654,000 hectares), SHM-Interwood (estimated 300,000hectares) and Basso Timber Industries (450,000 hectares) (see Part III – Company Profiles). 68