ECONOMY

GABON . SUMMER 2008 1312

T IS ONLY FROM THE AIR that you graspthe magnitude of Gabon’s tropical forests.When my plane takes off from LibrevilleInternational Airport, I can see below thePresidential Palace, a building that dominatesthe capital’s seafront. As we gain height, the

grandiose structure becomes a tiny cube and thecity’s roads reduce to grey slithers as the landscapegives way to trees, trees, and yet more trees.

Gabon’s ancient dense forests are so vast thatthey cover 85 per cent of its surface area. At first,it seems as if I am flying over fields of giant broccoli. Then, as the plane gains altitude, thethick tropical forest canopy becomes an ocean ofsmooth solid green, broken only by the sweepingcurves of rivers.

I have flown to eastern Gabon to visit a loggingcompany that has established itself as a model for sustainable forestry management. CompagnieEquatoriale des Bois (CEB), founded in 1947, wasone of the earliest forestry companies in Gabonand it has forged a reputation as a national leader.

In 1995, it began a sustainable managementprogramme well in advance of the requirementsof the Gabonese Forestry Code imposed six yearslater. In 2004, it became the first forestrycompany in Gabon to earn the ISO 14001 qualifi-cation. This year, it intends to become one of thefirst in Gabon to win the rigorous ForestryStewardship Council (FSC) certification – an inter-national guarantee of responsible forestrymanagement that is increasingly being demandedby wood buyers in Europe and the United States.

CEB is owned by Precious Woods, a Swissgroup with forestry operations in Brazil andCentral America and a trading arm in theNetherlands that is the largest distributor of FSC-certified timber products in Europe. It purchasedCEB in 2007 as part of its first foray into CentralAfrica and now has plans to expand further intothe Congo Basin.

CEB, says Precious Woods, was the kind ofenvironmentally-aware and forward-thinkingcompany that fitted its international portfolio.“CEB’s management was concerned that sellingthe company could compromise its social andecological commitment, so it was looking for abuyer with similar values,” says a spokesman.“Precious Woods was an obvious partner.”

CEB’s 600,000-hectare concession is in twoblocks bridging the Haut Ogooué and Ogooué-Lolo provinces. It has an annual production of200,000m3 of logs, and 80 per cent of this isprocessed in Gabon. Logs, mostly Okoumé wood,are either cut at its on-site sawmill or transportedfrom the nearby town of Lastourville via the Trans-Gabonese railway to its veneer and mouldingfactories in Libreville. Here they are processed intoplywood, door and window frames and parquetflooring, and contribute to CEB’s annual turnoverof $62 (€40) million.

Only 15 per cent of production is exported asroundwood (whole logs) to Europe and China.“With 80 per cent of our product processed, weare well ahead of the Gabonese government’starget of having all forestry companies process 75per cent of their logs by 2012,” says Xavier Jaffret,managing director of CEB.

Harvesting the forestCEB is one of just 10 companies in Gabon that hasbeen granted a Concession Forestière sousAménagement Durable (CFAD), known underGabonese law as a Forestry Concession underSustainable Development. This concession wasgranted only after acceptance by the ForestryMinistry of a sustainable forestry managementplan that defines CEB’s strategy for the entire dura-tion of its 25-year permit. The plan ensures a suffi-cient rotation period for the resource to replenish.

“We are not cutting down the forest; we areharvesting it,” explains Mr Jaffret. It is a subtledifference, but one that is vital for the forest’sstewardship. No clear felling is carried out, onlyselective cutting, which works out on average atthe removal of just one tree per hectare – theequivalent of around 2,000 trees a month. “Ourproduction is even because it is carefully plannedin advance,” he says. “We will never take morethan the forest can give.”

Preparation of the management programmebegins with a sophisticated inventory of thespecies composition of the forest and of thetopography of the concession by survey teamswho spend weeks in the forest recording informa-tion. The digital database then sets out the wholeharvesting procedure, from the initial selection oftrees to be cut to the practicalities of reaching

CuttingedgeGabon is proving to be a pioneer for sustainable forestry management in CentralAfrica. Sarah Monaghan goes to see the work of one its most successful companies

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A lumberjack team at work on the felling of an 150-year-oldOkoumé. Precision cutting likethis is a laborious and carefully-planned process which guarantees the direction of falland minimises damage to thesensitive forest canopy.Buttresses are removed beforefelling to reduce the risk of the tree being damaged �

ECONOMY

GABON . SUMMER 200814

them in as low impact a way as possible. Withthe inventory, CEB’s forest manager can proj-ect growth patterns and build a model of theforest’s future composition. Only large treeswith a given minimum diameter are felled,according to Forestry Ministry rules.

CEB’s concession has been divided into unitsand the plan sets out an annual operating planthat defines the activities to be undertaken ineach. To ensure minimum disturbance towildlife, all the felling must be completedwithin three years. Then the section is closedand left to regenerate for the next 25 years.

“Logging in the past was far more anarchic,” says Philippe Jeanmart, CEB’s director of forestry operations. “Loggers woulddrive a road in and start felling. Now, we havecomputerised maps and our cutting strategy isprepared minutely in advance.”

Precision cutting is the best way to protectthe sensitive rainforest canopy. Logging causes5 to 7 per cent canopy loss, but this can be farhigher if other trees are damaged in theprocess of reaching and felling a tree. Mostcanopy destruction is the result of tree fallgaps and the digging of roads and trails. Thesmaller these gaps are, the quicker they can berecolonised by the forest.

I watch as a team of professional fellersprepares to cut down an immense 150-year-old Okoumé tree. It is so vast that it wouldtake five men, arms outsplayed, to encircle itshuge trunk. Head lumberjack Samba takestime to plan the direction of fall, and then

instructs his team to clear it of any lianas. Hischainsaw starts to buzz and the sawdust flieslike tiny sparks as one by one Samba removesbuttresses from the base to leave a smoothround trunk.

“We want it to make a clean fall – this isgoing to take some time,” he tells me. On oneside, he cuts out a triangular wedge to steerthe direction of fall and then he sets his bladeagainst the trunk and begins to slice across itsimmense girth.

“Clear!” he calls, then runs back as the treebegins to creak and fall, crashing down exactlywhere he had planned it to land. A richresinous smell fills the air.

The trunk is then winched to the nearestskid trail by steel cable. To avoid damage tothe forest floor, lightweight machines haul itaway to a collection point from where it ispicked up by logging trucks. CEB has also introduced a tagging system that tracks eachtree from the forest to the collection area sothat the chain of supply is entirely controlled.

CEB is currently undergoing FSC interna-tional certification, an achievement that willput it at the vanguard of Gabon’s forestrycompanies. The FSC has carried out its primaryaudit and inspectors will be returning in July tofinalise their audit prior to presenting its Chainof Custody Certificate which guarantees thepath taken by raw materials from the forest tothe consumer.

The FSC demands the highest environmen-tal standards – one of the reasons why CEB

Left: Philippe Jeanmart,CEB’s director of forestryoperations, studies amap of the forest’stopography. Right, clock-wise: The diameter of atree is a factor determin-ing if it is suitable forfelling; CEB works withforest scientists to deter-mine optimum treegrowth; on site atBambidie, the biggestresidential camp of 250workers, is a subsidisedsupermarket, bakery,leisure club, footballground, primary schooland health centre. Here,CEB is currently midwaythrough a rebuildingprogramme of 200 threeand four-bedroom housesto replace ageing accom-modation – all will haveelectricity and runningwater; a tractor transports newly-hewnlogs to the sawmill

ʼ̓LOGGING USED TO BE FARMORE ANARCHIC. NOW OUR

WHOLE CUTTING STRATEGYIS PREPARED IN ADVANCEʻ̒

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GABON . SUMMER 2008 17

is now planning a new on-site power plantthat will be fed by waste wood rather thandiesel to produce the power required by itssawmill. “No other company in Gabon haswon the FSC certification yet. We hope to beamong the first,” says Xavier Jaffret.

CEB employs 700 people and jobs are highlysought after. In its concession area, there aresome 40-odd villages and two small towns,and for these CEB supports several schools andclinics, and maintains connecting roads. Itplaces a strong emphasis on the need for goodlocal relations and donates $2 (€1.3) per cubicmetre of exported wood to a fund for commu-nity projects. Local people are being helped toreplace traditional mud houses with modernwooden ones, and schools, teachers’ accom-modation and health clinics have been built.

A fish-farming project is also being pilotedto breed tilapia, a type of carp, and pondsacross a two-hectare area have been dug. “Weshould be able to produce a tonne of fish permonth which will be welcomed by ouremployees who otherwise rely on frozen meatand fish,” says Mr Jeanmart.

Fresh fish will also, he hopes, discouragethem from the temptation of illegal bushmeathunting – an activity that is taken extremelyseriously by CEB. “We are negotiating with thenew National Parks Agency and the WildlifeConservation Society to have ecoguards patrolthe area,” he says.

“There is a river here where we have spot-ted poachers’ camps. The hunters travel bypirogue (dug-out canoe) and we know thatbushmeat is being smuggled onto the Trans-Gabonese railway for sale in Libreville.”

Nonetheless, the tracks of buffalo, chimpanzees and gorillas are often seen inCEB’s concessions, and forest elephants can

regularly be spotted. Mr Jeanmart takes me toan area that was harvested in 2006 and is nowclosed to public access. “There are severalwatering holes here where elephants come forthe mineral salts,” he says. “We keep the loca-tions secret, even from our staff, because wedon’t want to risk attracting hunters.”

I follow him deep into the forest and soonwe see elephant tracks, as well as those of redriver hogs and duikers. The week before, MrJeanmart says he saw a leopard here. We slipand slide on the damp forest floor beneath thegreen canopy, stepping over brightly-colouredfruits and huge rotting leaves. Pungent smellsof lemon, ginger and rhubarb fill my nose.Butterflies zip across the track.

Now the tracks have become the size ofround dinner trays, followed by dinner plates –an adult elephant followed, perhaps, by itsyoung? “This is looking hopeful,” he whispers.“The elephant prints are fresh.”

Moments later, we arrive at the waterholeand Mr Jeanmart stops dead. “They’re here!”he says, flicking up the flame of a lighter todetermine the direction of the wind. “It’s okay– they can’t smell us. Come on.”

We inch forward through the trees and thenI see them. In the river below is a family ofelephants: a female, a male, and betweenthem a baby, all carousing in the mud andtossing cooling water over their wrinkly greyskins. Another female is nearby, knee-deep inthe river. We watch entranced.

It seems unthinkable that loggers were herejust two years ago – but it is clear that naturehas, and can, reclaim its own. Left in peace,this forest is regenerating and the animalshave taken back their kingdom. �

Sarah Monaghan

GABON IS CENTRAL AFRICA’SLARGEST TIMBER PRODUCER

AND THE WORLD’S LARGESTSUPPLIER OF OKOUMÉ WOODʻ̒ ʼ̓Left, clockwise: CEB’s

on-site nursery is usedto produce thousands of seedling trees thatare used for enrichmentreplanting in treefallgaps to assist regeneration; a surveyor prepares an inventoryline in the forest;elephants frolic in awaterhole found withinCEB’s concessionswhere gorillas andchimpanzees can alsobe seen. Right: CEB’sveneer factory inLibreville. Okoumé logsare placed on greatrollers and literally‘peeled’ to createsheets of veneer. One ofCEB’s biggest recentorders is veneer for theKing SenzangakhonaStadium currently beingbuilt in Durban for the2010 FIFA World Cup.Okoumé veneer is alsoused worldwide formaking furniture, shoesoles and cigar boxes

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GABON . SUMMER 200818

GABON IS CENTRAL AFRICA’S largesttimber producer, followed by theRepublic of Congo and Cameroon,

and the world’s largest supplier of Okoumé. This versatile red Okoumé accounts for

more than 70 per cent of its log exports. Thereare more than 30 tree types harvested inGabon but Okoumé and, to a lesser extent,Ozigo represent the bulk of productionaccounting for up to 80 per cent.

Other popular species are Padouk, Moabi,Kevazingo, Douka and Belí, all with distinctiverich colours making them highly suited toveneers. These are slow-growing trees likemany of Gabon’s species, some of which areso ultra-hard that they are unharvestablebecause their high silica content seriouslyreduce the lives of saw blades in sawmills.

Until the mid-1990s, Europe, France espe-cially, and the countries of the MediterraneanBasin were the primary importers of Gabon’stimber. Today, however, Asia has become itsprimary destination and China has replacedFrance as the largest importer, taking close to60 per cent of Gabon’s total production of 1.9million cubic metres of logs in 2007.

With a total land area of 26.8 millionhectares, Gabon’s tropical forests cover 22million hectares and are home to an extremelyrich forest ecosystem with many endemicspecies. Timber exports are Gabon’s secondmost important earner after oil, accounting for

SEEING THE WOODFOR THE TREESGabon’s forests, unlike oil, are a renewable resource. The government’s policy is to manage this valuable asset toprovide long-term revenues rather than short-term gain

2.5 per cent of GDP, although wood productsare believed to indirectly contribute more than10 per cent, according to the FrenchDevelopment Agency. Forestry is the leadingemployer in the private sector, engaging 28per cent of the population.

Both the government and internationaldonors see Gabon’s forests as central to itsmacro-economic development, and dwindlingoil resources have made boosting the timbertrade more urgent. “If managed properly,Gabon’s forests could offer long-termrevenues without compromising the ecosys-tems’ natural functions,” says Jonathan Lash,president of the World Resources Institute.

Aware of the need to pursue long-termbenefits rather than short-term profits, theGabonese government took the decision inthe late 1990s to devise a management policyfor its forests that would meet the need forsustainable economic development.

The result was a new Forestry Code, passedin 2001, that introduced strict new manage-ment regulations for all forestry operators. Italso put in place a target of 4 million protectedhectares for national parks and reserves and10 million hectares to be managed as sustainable forest estate.

Gabon is also pursuing a major push forindustrialisation to have more wood processedin its own sawmills and factories rather thanbeing exported as logs. The aim is that by

Right: Okoumé, Gabon’smost exported and versatile tree species,produces an attractiveveneer that has been usedrecently in the NationalLibrary of Paris and in the Eurostar train; a fauxPadouk tree; logs areloaded at Owendo,Libreville’s main port

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GABONESE LOG EXPORTS IN 2007

TOTAL 1.9 million cubic metres

China

France

India

Morocco

Turkey

Germany

Taiwan

Italy

Greece

Portugal

Spain

Belgium

Hong Kong

Malaysia

Japan

Algeria

South Africa

0 200,000 400,000 600,000 800,000 1,000,000

1.1 million278,000

176,000

134,000

52,000

33,00033,000

32,700

24,000

23,00018,000

10,000

6,0004,0003,000

2,000

2,000

Q&A

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GABON . SUMMER 200820

2012, log exports from Gabon will be reducedto 25 per cent with the remainder exported assawn lumber and processed products.

“Currently, Gabon is managing domesticprocessing of some 45 per cent of its wood,”says Pierre Ngavoura, director general of theMinistry of Forestry. “It was only 7 per cent in2002. We are aiming for 90 per cent in 2025.”

There is a challenge, however. Asia is onlytoo happy to accept Gabonese logs forprocessing more competitively in its ownsawmills. “Gabon really needs to avoid thisform of triangular commerce whereby China,for example, buys from Africa, processes thewood, then resells it to Europe,” warns XavierJaffret, managing director of CompagnieEquatoriale des Bois (CEB), one of Gabon’sbiggest forestry companies.

Gabon has made good progress in ensuringthat its forests are sustainably managed. So

far, 10 forestry companies – the largest beingFrench operators Rougier, CEB, Compagniedes Bois du Gabon and Leroy-Gabon;Malaysian operator Bordamur and Chinesecompany Hua Jia – have been given CFADconcessions. Together, they occupy 3.2 millionhectares of the 10 million hectares allocatednationally as concessions, but the Gabonesegovernment is still waiting for 34 othercompanies to complete their managementplans on the remaining 6.2 million hectares.

Gérard Moussu is the general secretary ofUFIGA, the Union of Sustainably ManagedForestry Companies in Gabon, acting for eightof the 10 CFAD-status companies. “We repre-sent about 40 per cent of Gabon’s totalforestry production,” he says. “There are still alarge number of companies, however, operat-ing without sustainable management plans.”

Controlling forcesIn some countries in West Africa, such as theIvory Coast, Guinea and Sierra Leone, loggingis being less well-managed causing rapiddeforestation and soil erosion. A recent reportby the NGO Traffic International blames highChinese demand for timber for a rapidincrease in uncontrolled logging. In SierraLeone, President Ernest Bai Koroma hasrecently imposed a ban on timber exports:“We are losing what is left of our environmentand it is affecting our climate and other things.It was not the Chinese alone but we had a lotof logging activities which were uncon-trolled,” he said.

In recent years, several environmental NGOssuch as Forest Monitor have also accused aninflux of Asian private capital into the CentralAfrican forestry sector of bringing “more

aggressive and more openly short-termlogging to the area, with a greater variety ofspecies being exploited in a short space oftime, primarily for log exports”.

However, Mr Moussu says that in Gabon atleast, the new forestry policy has reined inmany of these problems. “For several years,Asian companies were accused of being laxabout sustainable management,” he says.“But these days their attitudes have changed.The government’s determination to clampdown has made many rethink their workingmethods and engage with mainstream conservation practices.”

Chris Wilks, a consultant to IRET (Institut deRecherche en Ecologie Tropicale) and theWildlife Conservation Society, who hasworked for many years in Gabon, says muchof reduced impact logging “is just professionalcommon-sense forestry”. Professionalforesters do not squander their money clearing forest unnecessarily, he says.“Reduced-impact logging, involving precisionfelling and planning a total road network ofthe shortest necessary length with narrowroad margins, works for saving money as wellas saving the forest canopy.”

Gabon’s forests, he points out, are its onlymajor resource that is renewable. “Oil andminerals are not sustainable. Forests, in principle, are,” he says. “They is a challenge forthe planet as well as Gabon. Gabon could be asustainable source of beautiful timbers for theworld, a huge carbon reservoir and an eco-friendly tourist paradise.”

Managing its forests, clearly, will be Gabon’s major challenge for the 21st century. �

Sarah Monaghan

How much land is allocated as forestry concessions and willthis figure increase?Of Gabon’s 267,000 km2 surface area,the forest accounts for 22 millionhectares. We have planned for 14million hectares [ha] of permanentforestry estate and 8 million ha of ruralestate. Of the permanent estate, 4million ha is for national parks andreserves and 10 million ha for sustain-ably-managed forest.

Okoumé is the principal timber that is exported. Are youtrying to diversify by exportingother wood types too?Okoumé is a native Gabonese speciesand we estimate that we have reservesof at least 104 million hectares. Itsversatility is the reason for its highdemand: it is a species whose logs floatand is ideally suited for both veneerand the sawmill. We do need to makeefforts to market other wood types too.

Outline the industrialisation pushunderway in the timber industry.Currently about 45 per cent of logs areprocessed on home soil, but the government aims to have this figurereach 75 per cent by 2012 and we haveseveral measures in place to make thishappen. These include tax breaks onexports of processed wood and importsof industrial machinery, and the imposi-tion of export quotas. We believe thatthis is justified because local processingwill help create jobs and revenue.

Several companies in Gabon areseeking Forestry StewardshipCouncil (FSC) certification. What is your view of this?FSC certification is a voluntary processbut it is increasingly becoming indispensable for forestry companieswanting to sell wood onto interna-tional markets. Consumers on the

global stage are becoming moredemanding. That is why we have made sustainable management the touchstone of our forestry policy.

Some say that China places lessimportance on the origin of woodthat it imports than does Europeand that those forestry companies,many of which are Asian, whichsell to China, have less incentive topursue sustainable management. Asian companies are recent arrivals onthe forestry scene but they are begin-ning to work to our rhythm. That’scertainly the case with Bordamur [acompany owned by the MalaysianRimbunan Hijau, the world’s biggestforestry concern, with CFAD status anda 400,000 ha concession] which hasproven itself to be an excellent exampleof co-operation with government. It isalso working closely with NGOs toprevent bushmeat hunting. TheChinese company Hua Jia [CFAD statuswith a 100,000 ha concession] is alsoworking closely with us on sustainablemanagement. Infractions happen butour job is to make sure the forestry lawsare respected.

Have studies been carried out todetermine if the forests can regen-erate at the current rate of felling?Reliable studies have been carried out.The current rate of tree clearing is lessthan 1 per cent of national coverageand the average felling rate is one tothree trees per hectare. Gabon’s forestsare not in danger but we fully intend tooversee their sustainable management.

Forestry CodeGabon’s Forestry Code affects all forestrycompanies operating in the country andobliges them to carry out sustainablemanagement of their concessions. It wasdrafted with the help of a World Bankgrant and passed in 2001. Loggingconcessions are granted for 20 to 40 yearson a public auction system linked to thefinancial and technical capacity of thecompany. The maximum size of a ForestryConcession under SustainableDevelopment (CFAD) is 600,000 hectareswhich is considered the maximummanageable size to meet sustainablemanagement objectives.

Pierre Ngavoura, director general of Gabon’sForestry Division at the Ministry of Forestry

Low-impact forestrydemands that heavyengines like this logcharger are only used in forest clearings oncelighter engines withtyres called skiddershaul the log out to alanding along skid trailswhere the canopy isusually left intact. Atthese clearings, the logsare loaded onto loggingtrucks; workers at CEB’swood moulding factoryin Libreville

Inset: The Ministry of Forest Economy,Water, Fishery, andNational Parks inLibreville

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