Sold down the river - Salva le Foreste

COMPANY PROFILES 65said to be better than those of other logging companies inthe country, but the company’s poor record in Cameroonand its past record in Gabon place a question mark overthe company’s real commitment to sustainable forestmanagement. The company currently has a rotationperiod of 17 years which is generally considered to be tooshort for proper regeneration of the stock of commercialspecies. 308 The company also engages in fermage (see page46). 309Fieldwork undertaken in June 2000 by the GaboneseNGO CIAJE around CEB’s operations in Bambidi indicatethe extent to which CEB has tried to interact positivelywith local communities and workers. 310 In its concessionsin Lastoursville, CEB undertook a sociological study toidentify how to ensure a good relationship with villagersliving near its concessions and whose opposition to thecompany could potentially threaten CEB activities. Thefindings of the study were used to set up a programmeaimed at ensuring that local people also profit fromlogging. In the words of the CEB public relationsrepresentative in the country, these forests are “ their[local villagers’] forests”. 311 The company’s programmeincludes activities aimed at improving local people’sincome, such as the development of a fish breeding site inBambidi; setting apart one of the forest units for localpeople and financing processing of timber boards for thevillagers. Villagers living near CEB concessions can alsoattend the company health centre, while children haveaccess to a school where teachers are good (which is rarein logging areas) and they receive free reading primers.CEB employs mainly people from the villages surroundingtheir concessions. The company has built a road to breakup the isolation of a village in Sebe (near Lastoursville).CEB accommodation for its workers is better than those ofother companies. Workers also have access to recreationfacilities, considerably more than workers have in loggingcamps elsewhere in Gabon.CEB has taken several initiatives to stop bushmeathunting. Workers who engage in such activities arepenalised and the company plans to undertake a bushmeatawareness campaign. As to the use of timber, the companyseems less concerned with wasting forest resources;researchers found discarded timber lying around thelogging camp.Prior to opening its current concessions, CEB hadalmost exhausted its concessions in the south-west ofGabon, close to the Moukalaba Reserve where its loggingroads gave access to the Doudou Mountains 312 which wereonce rich in animal life. The Doudou Mountains remainone of several areas in Gabon which have beenrecommended for several years for, but not obtained, legal313, 314.protection.OthersThanry’s other subsidiaries in Gabon include EFG(Exploitation Forestière du Gabon) which has had a100,000 hectare concession near Ndjolé since 1976; SIL(Sciages Industriel de la Lowe) which operates sawmillsand was due to open at the end of 1995 a new sawmillwith an input capacity of 36,000 cubic metres per year,built for US$ 3 million; Thanry Gabon; and SAFOR whichis involved in logging, saw milling, moulding, railwaysleepers and charcoal. Thanry Gabon Industrie, a jointventure between CEB and Batave van Hout (of TheNetherlands), is to become one of the largest veneerproducers in Africa when its new 50,000 cubic metres peryear output processing facility between Owendo andLibreville is complete. 315If Thanry wants to be a credible actor in the market fortimber from sustainably managed forests, it may have todisassociate its operations in Gabon from those inCameroon. One commercial buyer of Thanry timber hasreportedly stopped buying from the company because ofits poor record in Cameroon. The easy option would be todispose of its operations in Cameroon – some of Thanry’scompetitors have particularly poor, but not necessarilyworse, records for forest resource management there.Raising the standards of its forestry operations andmanagement practices in Cameroon and CAR would,however, be a more commendable option and demonstratethe whole group’s commitment to implementingsustainable forest management.Unconfirmed reports in August 2000, however, suggestthat Thanry has taken the easy option by selling all itsoperations in Cameroon to Vicwood of Hong Kong.Thanry has apparently agreed with Vicwood that, for thepurposes of marketing timber in Europe, Vicwood willcontinue to use the Thanry brand name, potentiallycreating misunderstanding and deception as to thesustainability of timber from Cameroon.VASTO LEGNOVasto Legno is a family-owned Italian timber company. Ithas been operating for 120 years and has a modernindustrial complex in Milan specialising in sawnwood, itscore business, and in rotary and sliced veneers. 316 Thecompany produces about 5 million square metres of Ayousveneers each year and claims to be the world leader ofAyous production and one of the largest suppliers ofexotic species such as Ayous, Limba, Iroko, Sipo,Afrormosia and Moabi. 317CameroonVasto Legno has been logging in Cameroon for over 30years. 318 It operates through two companies, SEBAC(Société d’Exploitation des Bois d’Afrique Centrale) andSEFAC (Société d’Exploitation Forestière et Agricole duCameroun). 319 It currently operates on two legallyallocatedconcessions totalling 151,393 hectares as well asoperating outside its allocated concessions. During 1998-9, Vasto Legno produced 187,000 cubic metres of logs ofwhich it exported 42,000 cubic metres. 320SEBAC (Société d’Exploitation des Bois d’AfriqueCentrale)SEBAC has processing facilities at Béla with an inputcapacity of 36,000 cubic metres per year. 321 SEBACcurrently logs in East Province in a concession (UFA 10-009) which covers88,796 hectares. Ithas also beenlogging in anotherconcession (UFA 10-008) which covers60,371 hectares(even though it hasnot yet beenallocated) using arevoked licencenumber (1826). 322© GREENPEACE