Engaging logging concessions in REDD+

Editor's Notes

• #5: -The DRC is one of the world’s largest rainforest nations. The country has more dense forests than all other Congo Basin countries combined. More than half of the DRC’s massive land area is covered by dense forest – 115 million hectares, an area twice the size of France. This represents 7% of the world’s total tropical forest area. -The DRC has a relatively low recent historical deforestation rate compared with countries in Southeast Asia and Latin America, but the rate is increasing rapidly and is the highest among the countries of the Congo Basin (twice that of Cameroon and four times that of Gabon). The annual deforestation rate in 2000–05 was double that during the previous decade.3 The rate increased further in 2005–10, particularly in primary forests. Almost half a million hectares of forest are currently being lost each year. -Only around one-10th of the DRC’s forests are currently designated for logging. This remains very low by comparison with other Congo Basin countries and in relation to the scale of the DRC’s forests, and is only half what the country was producing at its peak in the early 1990s -10 large logging companies are responsible for around 90% of all licensed harvesting in the country. More than three-quarters of the DRC’s timber production is exported as logs, and most of the remainder is exported as sawn timber, -Until 2007 more than 90% of the DRC’s timber exports were destined for the EU, but this proportion has declined rapidly: in 2012 only 40% of timber exports were to the EU, while a further 40% went to China. As in other Congo Basin countries, the DRC’s domestic market is mostly supplied by artisanal timber (i.e. harvested using simple technology). -The most blatant form of illegality with regard to industrial logging in the DRC in recent years has been the widespread misuse of artisanal logging permits. These permits are supposed to be issued for small-scale logging by DRC nationals using simple technology. Since 2010, however, they have been issued illegally to companies for industrial logging, circumventing the moratorium on issuance of industrial logging licences that has been in place since 2002. The majority of industrial logging is still being carried out under concession licences. While this logging is carried out under licence, the information from the investigations of the OI-FLEG suggests that much – or perhaps most – of this timber is illegal in some way
• #6: Reduction of that impact is a potential REDD+ activity Companies getting involved (voluntarily or not) in REDD+ program development (eg. RoC, DRC,…)
• #12: Principe 1 : Les entités des concessionnaires forestiers engagés dans des projets/initiatives REDD+ doivent avoir une existence légale en RDC et détenir les droits d’accès légaux aux ressources forestières qu’elles valorisent. Principe 2 : Les concessionnaires forestiers engagés dans des projets/initiatives REDD+ doivent s’inscrire dans l’aménagement durable des forêts concédées, favoriser l’accroissement de services environnementaux notamment en limitant les dommages de l’exploitation sur le couvert forestier et renforcer la préservation de la biodiversité. Principe 3 : Les concessionnaires forestiers engagés dans des projets/initiatives REDD+ doivent s’assurer que les droits des populations riveraines de la concession ainsi que ceux des ayants droits de la société soient respectés Standards de conformité avec la REDD+ : ne créent pas une légalité à double vitesse ne désengagent en aucun cas les concessionnaires vis-à-vis de leurs obligations légales au titre de l’ensemble du cadre qui leur est appliqué L’objectif est de dégager des marqueurs clairs prouvant qu’une entreprise s’est engagée à travailler correctement.
• #18: The ERP allows for the implementation of two principal mitigation activities within forestry concessions. These are: Reduced Impact Logging’ (RIL). RIL entails emission reductions achieved through a reduction in forest road and skidtrail density, reducing damage to the residual forest stand as well as reducing the overall logging volume, e.g. by increasing the target diameters of merchantable species (e.g. at DBH 70 instead of 60 for a particular species) ’Conservation Concession’, which is the set-aside of forests foreseen for industrial logging operations. This comprises Set-aside of an entire forestry concession which is converted into a conservation concession; or Set-aside part of a logging concession (e.g. HCVF areas), whereas exploitation continues around/next to these protected forest areas. This option may be combined with Option 1 (RIL), whereas RIL would be implemented in the non-HCVF areas.
• #19: Option 2, with certification