Failure to enforce a crucial forestry law is undermining the Democratic Republic of Congo’s economic growth and endangering its tropical forests, according to a recent report. The DRC bans exports of raw, unprocessed logs, the U.K.-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) notes in its report. But it allows a 10-year grace period for new concessions to export up to 30% of harvested wood as logs, although at least 70% must be processed into products like plywood before export to promote local processing industries and generate jobs and revenue. The EIA, however, found that from 2015-2023, 74% of the DRC’s wood was exported as unprocessed logs, with China the main destination. Further investigation into two Chinese logging giants, Wan Peng and Booming Green, which together control more than 3 million hectares (7.4 million acres) of forest concessions in the DRC, revealed widespread disregard for the country’s forestry laws. Both companies allegedly engage in various illegal activities to meet the demand for unprocessed logs in China, the EIA found. These include routine violations of harvesting quotas, misdeclaration of species to facilitate overharvesting, and routine bribery. A manager at Wan Peng admitted to bribing “the General” to obtain a concession, likely a reference to Gabriel Amisi Kumba, a former chief of staff of the DRC army who was sanctioned by the U.S. and EU for human rights abuses, the report notes. The undermining of the DRC’s forest governance “seems to be part of a larger business model for these companies,” Luke Allen of the…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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