Sold down the river - Salva le Foreste

COMPANY PROFILES 55could collapse once the logging “boom” has finished, asother logging towns have done. In one recorded incident,HFC earned a bad reputation locally when its promise ofimproved transportation for the villagers of Nazareth andN’Koélon came to nothing. 48SIBAF (Société Industrielle des Bois Africains)SIBAF currently has control of two concessions in the EastProvince, totalling 134,765 hectares;UFA 10-063 (68,933hectares) awarded in July 2000 and UFA 10-018 (65,832hectares). These concessions are in biologically andculturally important primary forests, close to thecompany’s earlier concession at Kika, which is now part ofthe Lobéké protected area. 49 The company produced162,000 cubic metres of logs in Boumba Ngoko districtduring 1996-7, of which it exported 46,000 cubicmetres. 50 SIBAF’s sawmill at Kika has an input capacity of60,000 cubic metres. 51 The main species harvested isAyous. As with HFC, the company’s usual maximumproduction is around 120,000 cubic metres of logs and15,000 cubic metres of sawn timber. 52 In March 2000,SIBAF was fined CFA Fr 6 million (US$ 7,799) for unclearmarking of logs. 53The economy of Kika, a small village of only 25 peopleten years ago, but now a town of around 6,000, hasdeveloped as a direct result of SIBAF’s operations. 54 Manyof the townspeople were brought to the area by thecompany from other parts of the country. The influx hasadded to the disruption of the Baka and Bangando peoplewhose traditional territories are in this part of the forest. 55The construction of forestry roads and the subsequenttraffic facilitated the hunting of bushmeat, while thepopulation increase as Kika expanded provided a marketfor it. 56 A joint survey by the Cameroonian ministryresponsible for forests, MINEF, and the Germangovernment development agency, GTZ, in 1999 offirearms in the East Province found 146 illegal firearmsoriginating from Congo (Brazzaville) in the SIBAFconcession area, 57 weapons which pose a threat to localpeoples’ security as well as to the wildlife, such aselephants and lowland gorillas.The near-exhaustion of SIBAF’s former concessions leftthe town in 1999 facing collapse, dependent on SIBAFbeing awarded new concessions. 58,59 That year, half thepopulation left after operations wound down and workerswere laid off. 60 SIBAF has since been awarded twoconcessions in the area, and believes that, with new lawsand forest management practices, the concessions shouldnot become exhausted in the future, thus offering greatersecurity of employment. 61Central African Republic (CAR)SESAM (Société d’Exploitation Forestière de la Sangha-Mbaéré), one of the largest logging concessions in CAR,used to be owned by Bolloré’s subsidiary, Saga. In theearly 1990s, SESAM drew on a large loan (in effect, asubsidy) from the French government to prepare a forestmanagement plan, 62 but as it did not have sufficient inhousecapacity, the work was in fact prepared by theFrench government. It is not known whether the planaccommodates, or indeed was ever intended toaccommodate, the needs of the settled and nomadic forestpeople. SESAM has two concessions in CAR, one of107,000 hectares awarded in 1991, the other of 307,000hectares awarded in 1995, in a region where manyPygmies live. 63 Since Malaysian logging company WTK 64bought 51% of SESAM 65 in the mid-1990s, it is not clearwhether this management plan is being implemented ornot, although there remains a French interest in SESAM.Bolloré used to operate in CAR through EFBACA(Enterprise Forestière des Bois Africains Centrafrique), asubsidiary of the group’s principal logging company in theIvory Coast. It had a 200,000 hectare concession inSangha province. 66 The current status and ownership ofEFBACA is not known.BRUYNZEELBruynzeel is a Dutch group which specialises in theproduction of wood-based panels, mainly Okouméplywood, through its Bruynzeel Multipanel division and ofkitchen furniture through Bruynzeel Keukens en Kasten.The company trades in the UK as Bruynzeel Multipanel(UK) Ltd, in Belgium as Bruynzeel Multipanel NV and inGermany as Bruynzeel Multipanel GmbH.Congo (Brazzaville)BoplacDuring the 1980s, Bruynzeel jointly owned the companyPlacongo, with the Dutch government (through FMO, theDutch government development agency) and the Congogovernment. Placongo was restructured and renamed asBoplac in 1990. 67 The equity of the new company is heldby Bruynzeel (43.5%), the Danish company DLH Nordisk(43.5%) (see page 56) and the German trading companyM & P Pruchtnow (13%). 68During 1997, Boplac produced 43,000 cubic metres oflogs from its five concessions which total 500,000 hectaresin the Lékoumou region in the south of the country. 69Most of this was Okoumé. Boplac is the leading veneerproducer in Congo and in 1997 output was 23,000 cubicmetres. 70 Because of the political difficulties of operating inCongo (Brazzaville), the operation declared a loss in1998. 71GabonDuring 1999, Boplac imported logs into Congo(Brazzaville) from neighbouring Gabon to sustainthroughput at its veneer facility, which could not obtainsufficient supplies from within the country because ofmilitia activity. 72DANZERThe Danzer Group, now a global timber business, isprimarily a German operation, held through a Swissholding company, ANBE. 73 Group sales turnover for 1998was DM 900 million (US$ 392 million). 74 Danzer, one ofthe world’s leading manufacturers and suppliers ofveneers, producing around 150 million square metres peryear in the early 1990s. 75 Less than 10% of the group’ssales, however, are derived from tropical timbers. Most ofthe tropical timber used in their veneers is from Africanspecies, with a limited amount from Asian logs and nonefrom Latin America. 76Danzer’s principal operations in the European Unionare in Germany (notably Danzer Funierwerke, based inReutlingen), Austria (Karl Danzer GmbH), Belgium(Coplac), France (Jura Placages), Sweden (Fanérimporten),