The Central African Forest Commission (COMIFAC) wants to ensure that timber exported from the Congo Basin countries meets sustainability and legality requirements. This is what the Tropical Timber Trade facility (TTT) is all about. It is a future trilateral project involving Central Africa, China and Europe. The initiative aims to promote trade in legal and/or sustainable tropical timber and timber products along the supply chain from Central Africa through China to international markets.
The concept note for the project was signed on 22 September 2022 at COMIFAC’s headquarters in Yaoundé, Cameroon by Hervé Maidou, COMIFAC’s Executive Secretary, and Corinna Fricke, the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Cameroon. The feasibility study of the project will be carried out by the German International Development Cooperation Agency (GIZ), thanks to the support of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (GIZ), with the support of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
Only 18% of forest concessions in Central Africa are legal
According to the initiators of the future TTT project, increasing the production of legal and sustainable tropical timber will slow down forest degradation and thus contribute to better protection of biodiversity. The resulting increase in sustainable CO2 sequestration will help protect the climate. Large-scale legal forest management in the Congo Basin is expected to increase long-term demand for tropical wood products in demanding markets such as the European Union (EU) and the United States of America and will further contribute to long-term forest conservation.
Read also-CENTRAL AFRICA: COMIFAC to advocate for its forests at COP 15
According to the International Tropical Timber Technical Association (ITTA), of the 55 million hectares of forest concessions in Central Africa, 18% are legally verified or certified. Furthermore, 60-80% of timber and organic products exports are destined for China. Once these timber and wood products arrive in China, they are processed into finished products that are sold in the country and on international markets. China’s annual imports of tropical timber from Central African countries fluctuate around 7-10 million m3.
It should be noted, however, that since July 2020, China has had a new forestry code which includes in its Article 65 that it is forbidden to buy, transport and process illegal timber. This code also applies to imported timber.
Boris Ngounou