Tropical Forests: Project in Congo Basin

Project in Congo Basin

Support towards the first FSC certification in the Congo Basin

Conservation of biodiversity in lumber concession areas

About seven per cent of the two-million-square-kilometre forest area in the Congo Basin is designated as a protected area. However, successful protection of biodiversity requires that nature protection measures are also applied outside protected areas.

As part of this ITTO project, the Wildlife Conservation Society, the firm ‘Congolaise Industrielle des Bois’ (CIB) and the government of the Republic of the Congo are working together to improve forest management in order to protect wildlife. A series of measures were taken to reduce the pressure on endangered wildlife in the timber concession areas that border the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park situated in the north of the country. The acquired experiences flow back into the work in other concession areas and form the basis for drafting national wildlife protection provisions. The project contributed to the first certification in May 2006 of a CIB concession in accordance with the provisions of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). The FSC certificate is awarded for socially beneficial and environmentally appropriate forest management. This first FSC certification in the Congo Basin is a major step towards the sustainable management of African tropical forests.