A partnership between a non-profit organization and one of the world's leading timber companies has doubled the amount of certified tropical rain-forest in the Congo Basin, ensuring that the area will be protected from irresponsible logging practices and deforestation in future years.
The Congo Basin covers 700,000 square miles and stretches over the boundaries of six different countries. Over 400 mammal species call the area home, sharing rent with 1,300 different species of birds and 20,000 different species of plant s(of which 8,000 are found nowhere else). As well as protecting the ecological value of the area the safeguarding against deforestation will also help to curb greenhouse gas emissions, an estimated 20% of which are caused by deforestation.
Many forest dwelling communities are also protected, and the non-profit organization the Tropical Forest Trust (TFT) utilized the expertise of the semi-nomadic Pygmies to help develop the resource maps which the FSC have given their approval to. Through use of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) indigenous, non-literate people were able to identify specific features of importance, such as trees prized for their edible caterpillars or areas rich in medicinal plants.
The timber company, Congolaise Industrielle des Bois (CIB) has been praised today in a press release by the TFT's Executive Director, Scott Poynton, who said that the firms willingness to engage with the social and environmental impacts of their business represented 'a living breathing example that timber production does not have to be synonymous with the destruction of tropical forests.' He said that with businesses seeking FSC recognition for their productions it was now 'up to consumer markets...to chose sustainably produced wood product over those from dubious origins.'
The Trust is trying to build on this positive example of responsible logging through a Centre of Social Excellence for the Forests of the Congo Basin. The Centre will offer one year placements for young professionals in central African countries to continue developing the innovative woodland management practices which CIB have embarked upon. Their aim is to recognize and chart the forest's value, and sensitivity to the effects of logging, through focusing on the needs of both the ecosystems and the unique societies which are contained within it.
This example of a large business approaching a non-profit organization has benefited both groups, the Trust through the ability to implement their ethics and CIB through positive publicity.
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This post was written by Matthew Gammie on May 28, 2008