<\/p>\n
With over 65% of the Republic of Congo covered by forest \u2013 an area almost the size of the United Kingdom – it is vitally important that sustainable forest management practices take place in the country, both to improve livelihoods and protect the forest. The main legislation to do this is the country\u2019s Forest Code; in July 2020, a new version of the code received presidential approval after eight years of revision. This is an important milestone towards a more sustainable and inclusive forestry and timber sector.<\/p>\n
The implementing regulations are currently in development, it is expected that they will be equally strong to the key improvements of the law. For the time being, companies with exploitation titles granted under the previous Forest Code have an adaptation period of three years.<\/p>\n
The revision took place within the VPA (Voluntary Partnership Agreement) that the Republic of Congo signed with the European Union on 2010. A VPA is a bilateral trade agreement between the EU and a timber-exporting country with an aim to (1) guarantee that any timber to the EU comes from legal sources and (2) to help the partner country stop illegal logging by improving forest governance and regulation. The VPA is a central element of the EU Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan.<\/p>\n
The new Forest Code clarifies concepts and introduces new ones that highlight the importance of timber legality. The concepts and modalities of the FLEGT VPA are outlined throughout the text, such as verification of legality, certification, computerised system for legality verification, etc. Additionally, the legislation proposes an independent structure to manage a national forest certification system aligned with international standards.<\/p>\n
One important change to the Forest Code is the inclusion of the concept of Free, Prior and Informed Consent, which means that local communities and indigenous peoples will be able to participate in forest governance processes for the first time. Similarly, the mandate of civil society to undertake independent forest monitoring is recognised legally for the first time. Civil society organisations will take part in the commission in charge of adjudicating forest-concessions and within the contracts, benefit-sharing specifications will be negotiated directly by affected communities. Importantly, civil society organisations, local communities and indigenous peoples will also be involved in the development of forest management plans through multi-stakeholder processes. Furthermore, a new community forestry scheme grants rights to forest-dependent communities.<\/p>\n
With regards to the timber sector, the most impactful measures will potentially be the following:<\/p>\n
Regarding infractions, while they have remained broadly unchanged, most sanctions are stricter. In particular, forgery or counterfeiting of any proof of legality is subject to fines fifty times higher than before.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s important to highlight that many of the changes to the Forest Code are related to the importance of timber legality verification, more specific forest and logging rights, and stakeholders\u2019 active participation in forest governance processes. These are a major improvement and it\u2019s a crucial step towards country-wide legality in the forestry sector.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With over 65% of the Republic of Congo covered by forest \u2013 an area almost the size of the United Kingdom – it is vitally important that sustainable forest management practices take place in the country, both to improve livelihoods and protect the forest. The main legislation to do this is the country\u2019s Forest Code; in July 2020, a new version of the code received presidential approval after eight years of revision. This is an important milestone towards a more sustainable and inclusive forestry and timber sector.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":3986,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[82,325,324,200],"class_list":["post-5776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-forest-code","tag-rdc","tag-republic-of-congo","tag-responsible-timber"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n