Logging company moves into intact Gabon forest as village fights to save it
Logging company moves into intact Gabon forest as village fights to save it
Benjamin Evine-Binet, Mongabay
March 31, 2021
See link
https://news.mongabay.com/2021/03/logging-company-moves-into-intact-gabon-forest-as-village-fights-to-save-it/
for photos & map.
A forestry company in Gabon has built new roads to log a forest in the
northeastern province of Ogooué-Ivindo. Villagers had applied to the
government last August to reclassify this valuable forest as a protected
area, and say they are alarmed by the company’s rapid advance while they
wait for a formal response.
Rural communities in this area rely on local forests for fishing, hunting
and gathering. These livelihoods and the wildlife populations they depend
on are increasingly threatened by mining, intensive logging, and poaching
for the illegal ivory trade and unregulated commercial hunting for
bushmeat. A massive increase in logging by foreign companies over the last
decade — around 40 companies hold logging concessions covering most of the
area — and associated road building has opened access to formerly intact
forests and razed local ecosystems.
In response, three Ogooué-Ivindo villages have taken steps to protect the
environment and their way of life. The villages of Latta, Ebessi, and
Massaha have established management plans to regulate hunting practices and
delineate informal protected reserves in their forests.
Massaha Village: The First Gabonese Community to Apply to the Government to
Declare Its Forest a Protected Area
With logging rapidly expanding, the village of Massaha, 56 kilometers (35
miles) from the provincial capital of Makokou, has gone one step further. A
portion of the forest relied on by villagers is also part of a vast
41,000-hectare (101,300-acre) logging concession (called UFG-2, Unité
forestières de gestion 2) held by a Chinese forestry company, Transport
Bois Négoce International (TBNI). The company was the subject of a 2019
investigation by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), which
exposed TBNI’s involvement in bribery, transfer pricing and other corrupt
methods to evade taxes and maximize profits.
Massaha has submitted an official request for 11,300 hectares (27,900
acres) of UFG-2 to be reclassified as a protected area with sustainable
hunting management.
According to Gabon’s Forest Code, forest already allocated to a logging
concession may be declassified if it is found to have “significant
biological richness, high heritage value, or substantial environmental
risks.” Outlining the procedure for such reclassification, the code
explicitly states that the process may be initiated “at the express request
of a local community.” This is the first time that a rural Gabonese
community has launched such an appeal.
The forest in the concession area south of the Liboumba River has never
been logged. It is home to threatened species such as forest elephants
(Loxodonta cyclotis), chimpanzees, gorillas, leopards, and pangolins, as
well as an abundance of centuries-old trees including protected species
such as moabi (Baillonella toxisperma) and kevazingo (Guibourtia tesmannii).
The villagers use their forest for hunting, fishing, and farming; the
forest here also contains ancestral villages and ritual sites of invaluable
cultural wealth. Serge Ekazama-Koto, a local researcher, explains what is
at stake for his community: “TBNI’s logging practices in this area will
inevitably destroy the entire foundation of our village. We do not want to
be a village without roots or history; our ancestors founded this village,
their graves are found there, and the forest is sacred to us.”
Two New Logging Roads Already Open, Sign of Imminent Logging by TBNI
Since 2018, authorization for logging is conditional upon companies having
a state-validated wildlife protection plan, drawn up with the participation
of all stakeholders and readily accessible to all interested parties. While
its wildlife protection plan is still under review, TBNI has been allowed
to continue logging. The company’s wildlife manager for the area, Junior
Peme, told Mongabay the company is using camera traps to determine the
species diversity in the area, and mapping the impacts of human activity in
the area on medium-size and large mammals.
The company’s environmental integrity has been called into question by the
village of Latta (whose forest lies in a section of UFG-2 that TBNI has
already logged). Community patrols there have found evidence of hunting
with wire snares (illegal in Gabon) by company employees inside the
village’s self-designated management area, where they themselves have
prohibited hunting by outsiders. The village’s management plan is not
legally binding but has been acknowledged by both provincial authorities
and TBNI.
Peme declined to comment on Massaha’s reclassification request, but the
company has already completed an inventory of timber in a portion of the
logging concession within the proposed protected area. In February 2021, it
built two new logging roads there, running from the national road that
passes through the village to near the northern shore of the Liboumba
River. Logging could begin at any time, threatening the reclassification
request before it has been formally considered. All this with the results
of TBNI’s inventories of flora and fauna not available.
Massaha Awaiting Response from National Authorities
The village delivered its request in official letters to the governor of
Ogooué-Ivindo, the provincial director of water and forests, and TBNI on
Aug. 6, 2020. The provincial director formally responded to the request on
Aug. 19, and transferred the file to the national ministerial authority the
next day. Following this, village leaders met with him several times. A
string of back-and-forth correspondence among the various entities has
ensued, but no concrete action has yet been taken. All the while,
preparation for logging in the proposed protected area moves forward apace.
The provincial director of water and forests was unavailable for comment,
as he is currently out of the province on extended business. But villagers
say they are confident their request will find a favorable audience in
government. In May 2020, Lee White, Gabon’s minister of forests, oceans,
environment and climate change, said the country “must take ownership” of
the initiative to protect 30% of lands and seas by 2030, proposed under the
Convention on Biological Diversity.
At a village meeting held in Massaha on Feb. 20 this year, the villagers
reaffirmed their commitment to seeing their forest reclassified as a
protected area. On March 3, they delivered another letter to the provincial
director of water and forests, asking for news on the status of their
application.
They have yet to receive a reply. But TBNI employees have since arrived and
are now staying in the village.
On March 30, the village wrote a letter addressed to the national minister
stating they “reserve the right to take multifaceted actions if an answer
is not given […] as soon as possible.”