Sold down the river - Salva le Foreste

52SOLD DOWN THE RIVERHobbiesThe workers are treated like semi-slaves.Nothing has been laid on for theirenjoyment. CEB has a room where severalgames can be played and where theworkers can listen to the news. A footballground is planned. There is no suchprovisions at NSG. At SHM, only the staffhave access to TV, while the workers haveneither TV, radio nor a room for recreation.EducationSchools have been built so that workerschildren (and others) can be educated.Gabon Leroy appears to have the best builtand the most spacious school. Thetextbooks are free and the teachers are paidby both the company and the government.At SHM, it’s a disaster. Basically, theclasses are cramped and the staff areincompetent. For the year 1998-1999 thesuccess rate did not exceed 10 %. This hasled workers to send their children to Ndjolé,37 km away.Access to food suppliesThe companies have stores for theirworkers but they charge high prices. Due tothese prices, the workers often resort topoaching.C. Impact On The EnvironmentThe impact on the environment can be seenfrom the pollution, the ravaging of resourcesand the poaching.ErosionSome of the areas where licences havebeen granted have seen exploitation of theslopes, such as Mboumi at SHM. This typeof exploitation leads to soil erosion. Erosionis further encouraged when the soilbecomes compacted and with the damagecaused by large vehicles.PollutionWater pollution has taken place. Theproduct which is used to treat the wood canbe found in the water. This is because thewood is transported to the port of Port-Gentil on the river Ogooué. The Ogoouériver is also used by the local people towash in and for drinking water.Ravaging of resourcesMany things show that the forests of Gabonare being exploited in an anarchic manner,and that conservation consideration orpractices are not being followed. Loggingcompanies engage in mining the forestinstead of managing their source of rawmaterials.Many of the blocks of wood are burnt,others are abandoned. We have seen 7such blocks from the CEB and 30 from theSHM along the road. We are not taking allof the wood abandoned into account, suchas the boards, planks or panels that we sawon site. Why is there so much wastage? Thewastage continues with the building of thedepots in the middle of the forest. Severalsites are developed, sometimes close toeach other, this leads to loss of vegetativecover. These plants are further damagedwith the development of tracks in the forestand - worse still - roads. SHM’s roads havea width of 3-4 m, it’s a real mess at Rougier-Gabon. A road can become 25 m wide.PoachingAlmost all of the forestry workers poach.Most companies have never considered thisto be a problem in their management oftheir sites. However, considerable effortsare being made by some companies suchas Leroy, CEB and BESCOS, which runawareness campaigns, and whose workersface penalties for poaching.The other side of the problem is thatsome forestry companies like Rougierfavour poaching. This is not done directlybut poachers use their sites and there areno surveillance measures in place to stopthis environmental problem.Many blocks of wood are burnt, others are abandoned© FORESTS MONITOR/CIAJE