Several NGOs condemn the “illegal” granting of large primary forest concessions to a single company. Contracts signed in September last year by Claude Nyamugabo, former Minister of the Environment, but not published on the ministry’s website until March. By studying these contracts, forest rangers in the Democratic Republic of Congo observed several irregularities. And they ask for cancellation,
It is an area as large as half of Burundi: 1,370,000 hectares of primary forest located in the north-north of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The six forest concessions distributed between the provinces of Tshuapa and Tchopo are all awarded to the same Tradelink company based in Lubumbashi. But the Congolese forest code limits to 500,000 hectares the maximum forest area that can be granted to a single concessionaire.
Other concerns for environmentalists: from a legal point of view, several legal provisions are not respected. The amount that the company pays to the state is not published. The proof of not being consulted in the local communities either.
Two Congolese NGOs, Codelt and Océand, are announcing illegal contracts added to others already signed last year. This is the third wave of illegal concessions that have been allocated and therefore this Minister will in total, in a single year, 2020 allocate 4 million hectares of forest illegally. ”
The two NGOs have appealed with the request for cancellation of contracts, contracts – on paper – for the conservation of the forest. But Irene Wabiwa Betoko from Greenpeace Africa doubts the ecological motives of the company Tradelink. “What will these forests really be doomed to conservation? Because one of the shareholders in this Tradelink company has made a career in mining, oil and logging. So he has no conservation experience, he is more of someone in the exploitation industry. ”
The administrative appeal was filed on June 9, the new Minister of the Environment Eve Bazaïba has three months to respond.
