Brazzaville seeks to regulate the state’s 15% share of logs
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Vox Congo
Civil society organisations meeting in Brazzaville are calling to participate in implementing the Congolese law allocating 15% of harvested logs to the state. They want to influence the three regulatory texts still pending, particularly on managing and using this public share, according to Vox Congo.
Civil society organisations meeting in Brazzaville from 29 to 31 October are calling for the three implementing texts still pending to specify the management of the 15% share of logs allocated to the state under Congolese law No. 38-2024, according to Vox Congo. In particular, they want to know which body will administer this share, under what oversight and for whose benefit.
The law provides for this share to be calculated for each species, according to the annual volume of timber cut by each company holding a permit. It also provides for the creation of a company responsible for managing the public share, but does not detail the division of responsibilities between the state and logging companies or the benefits for local communities and indigenous peoples.
Daniel Ndinga, an expert in forest and land governance, presents the mechanism as a Congolese initiative to share production between the government and forestry companies. Nina Cynthia Kiyindou, executive director of the Congolese Observatory for Human Rights, for her part believes that civil society was not sufficiently involved in drafting the law, according to Vox Congo.
