Sold down the river - Salva le Foreste

COMPANY PROFILES 59In some cases, important elephant poachers are madeeco-guards in an attempt to take them out of the poachingcircuit. It has been reported in the past that these guardsoften intimidated local people, and allowed their formerpoaching colleagues to pass freely through checkpoints butconfiscated local people’s small amounts of game. Thesystem has created distrust and antagonism between someconservation workers and local people and, in certainplaces, may have strengthened the position of some of thebest-connected poachers who are commissioned to hunttrophy animals. 146 If these issues are not tackled in an openand transparent manner, based on input from local people,this potentially positive initiative may not bear the fruit itshould.Accepting the contributions that CIB has made to theprovision of local services, and its partnership approachwith WCS regarding bushmeat hunting, it appears that thecompany still has some way to go before obtainingindependent proof of sustainable forest management.Whilst the company may be better than many other timbercompanies in the region, the woeful records of many ofthese other operators does not provide an acceptable baseto which companies genuinely striving to achievesustainable forest management should comparethemselves. Independent audit and verification of theenvironmental and social benefits and impacts of the jointCIB/WCS initiative and CIB’s operations by expertsacceptable to all parties would seem to be an appropriatenext step prior to further judgements being made on themerits or shortcomings of the operations.INTERWOODGroupe Interwood SA is a French company which wasuntil recently a subsidiary of the French conglomeratePinault Printemps Redoute. 147 The principal owners arenow listed as DF Synergies (40%), Siti SteD’Investissements et de Transactions (40%) and Mr Gueit(19%). 148 The turnover figures for the company at the end1999 were US$ 28,808,000. 149 Interwood has operationsin Cameroon and Gabon.CameroonInterwood Cameroun SARLInterwood’s company in Cameroon is InterwoodCameroun SARL which carries out logging, processingand international trade in logs and sawn timber. 150According to 1999 French press reports, Interwood’slogging permit was renewed by the Minister of Forests andit was being approached by BOTAC (a Cameroonianforestry company) concerning a possible partnership. 151 Itis not clear which concessions Interwood Cameroun SARLholds.CoronInterwood has recently acquired EGTF RC Coron’sinterests in Cameroon. 152 Coron has been operating inCameroon since 1938. Until its acquisition by Interwood,it was a family-owned company with close links to theFrench establishment – its Managing Director representedFrench interests in Cameroon. 153 Since Interwood’s recentacquisition of Coron, however, the new managementstructure is unknown.Coron currently holds two concessions (UFAs 08-001and 08-002) totalling 136,760 hectares in Haute Sanagadistrict, Centre Province. It has processing facilities of48,000 cubic metres input capacity. In 1996-7, it produced40,677 cubic metres of logs of which 20,131 cubic metreswere exported. 154 Coron exports timber (from logs tosemi-finished manufactured items) primarily to Europe,both in its own right and through traders, most notably aFrench expatriate company, FCA (Forestiers CamerounaisAssociés). 155Coron acquired its concessions in 1996 through aPresidential Decree (“gré à gré”) rather than by auction, asrequired by the 1994 law, and has a contract which doesnot envisage a management plan nor a probationaryperiod. 156 Obtaining a licence in this way means thatcompanies do not have to abide by the 1994 law. 157 TheWorld Bank has requested the Cameroonian governmentto revoke all contracts for concessions that had beengranted in a manner contrary to the 1994 law, but to noavail.In December 2000, Coron was fined CFA fr16,783,308 (US$ 21,815) for exploiting unauthorisedspecies. 158GabonSociété de la Haute Mondah (SHM)Interwood owns Société de la Haute Mondah (SHM) inGabon, one of the largest operators in the country. 159 Thecompany is believed to own around 300,000 hectares ofconcessions. A field trip in June 2000 by the GaboneseNGO CIAJE to the SHM site at Mboumi found that themanagers had potable water from a specially constructedwater tower but the workers had to walk more than onekilometre to a river polluted with wood treatmentchemicals. “In effect, this river is a rubbish dump ordustbin for wood residues and other detritus”, concludedthe investigation. 160 Workers’ camps were poorlyconstructed and vulnerable to precipitation andsubsidence. 161 Field investigations found that thedispensary at the Mboumi site had no medication at all,not even basic painkillers, and a lack of qualified staff andbasic facilities. 162 Education provision is described in thefield report as “a catastrophe”, with incompetent staff. In1998-9, the success rate at the school was less than 10%.As a result, workers send their children to school inNdjolé nearly 40 kilometres away. 163 The field visit reportalso noted damage caused by heavy machinery, soilerosion on slopes, and excessive timber wastage.© GREENPEACE