6 May 2014, Mongabay news - Although the Republic of the Congo has opened up nearly 90 percent of its  lowland forests to logging, the majority of the logging occurring in the country  is still illegal, according to a new  report from the Chatham House. In fact the UK policy institute finds that  illegal logging in the Republic of the Congo may make up as much as 70-75  percent of the industry.

"There are two main types of illegal logging  taking place in the country: 'informal,' small-scale artisanal logging for  domestic markets (estimated to represent 20 percent of all harvesting); and  logging in breach of various regulations by large, licensed logging  concessionaire," explains the report. In fact, in 2011 an Independent Observer  of Forest Law Enforcement and Governance (IM-FLEG) uncovered regulatory breaches  at every logging concession it visited.

The Republic of the Congo is one  of the most heavily forested nations on the continent: dense forest covers 21.3  million hectares or 65 percent of the nation's land mass. Yet deforestation is  an ongoing and worsening problem. According to Global  Forest Watch, the Republic of the Congo lost nearly 300,000 hectares of  forest cover between 2000 and 2013. The rate of both deforestation and forest  degradation has jumped in recent years, for example forest degradation doubled  from the 1990s to the 2000s. Part of this is due to the fact that so little  forest in the Republic of the Congo is protected.

"Almost 90 percent of Congo's lowland dense  moist forests are now designated for logging, and logging is already ongoing in  two-thirds of these areas," finds the report. "This is a much higher proportion  than is the case in other Congo Basin countries. Most forests in the south of  Congo have been logged already and are now undergoing a second or third round of  harvesting."

According to Chatham House, ten companies are responsible  for 90 percent of industrial logging in the country. Logging companies are  largely targeting okoume (Aucoumea klaineana) and sapele trees  (Entandrophragma cylindricum), though both are listed as Vulnerable by  the IUCN Red List.

Meanwhile, a rising threat to the country's forests  is palm oil, which means forests aren't selectively logged for targeted trees,  but instead clearcut for monoculture plantations.

"Palm oil is playing  an increasingly important role in Republic of the Congo and other Congo Basin  countries. The largest new oil palm plantation project in the Congo Basin is in  Republic of the Congo," Sam Lawson, the author the report for Chatham House,  told mongabay.com. "The company involved is clear-felling a vast pristine forest  populated by gorillas and forest elephants. It has been found to be operating  illegally. It has been projected that this one project could double the  deforestation rate in the country."

The palm oil plantation is run by the  Malaysian company, Atama Plantation Limited, and is set to cover 180,000  hectares. On its website, the company says it "places great importance on  preserving the natural resources and biodiversity of the land while improving  the livelihood and ultimately the lives of the Congolese people."

But  Chatham House notes that all wood exports from the Republic of the Congo should  be considered "high-risk" unless independently certified. Given the level of  suspected illegal logging, the report finds that much of the industry is  shifting from selling to sensitive markets like those with recent laws against  importing illegally logged wood, such as the EU, U.S., and Australia. Currently,  around 60 percent of the country's timber products is going to China, which is  the world's largest importer of illegally-logged wood.

Source: http://news.mongabay.com/2014/0506-hance-republic-congo-illegal-logging.html?n3ws1ttr