The progress of ATIBT Congo: The private sector mobilises

Representatives of forestry companies from North Congo in Ouesso

Since ATIBT Congo opened in early August 2018 and since the launching of its activites in Brazzaville on 19 September, our team is constantly mobilizing to implement the projects activities and to support the advocacy of the private sector with a view of drafting laws, texts and regulations.

As a reminder, the ATIBT in Congo implements several projects:

The FAO project: « Structured participation of the Congolese private sector in the drafting of regulatory texts and technical documents of the VPA / FLEGT »
FLEGT – REDD + projects and Support for third party verified certification.
Technical assistance in the framework of the project « Support to the implementation of the VPA-FLEGT Congo » managed by FRMI.

Below is a quick overview of what has been done. Feel free to contact us for more details.

19 September: Kick-off workshop for FAO, FLEGT REDD + and Certification projects. Read the news here.
28-30 September: Meeting held with logging companies in the North of Congo in Ouesso to showcase the projects, to bring out synergies between the FLEGT and the certification, and finally to promote the « coaching activities » for the third party legal certification proposed by PPECF.
28/29 October: Organisation of a full session on the certification in the Forest Governance Forum in Brazzaville, with the active presence of Jacqueline Lardit and the Congo team: Alain Tio Tsop and Antoine Ngassaki. See the news here
November: An expert was contracted to analyze the guidelines and standards for the development of simplified management plans for small areas by the granted of the ITCs and thus expand advocacy to defend the positions and proposals UNIBOIS members’. After a successful meeting in Pointe Noire, the expert carried and explained these conclusions to the ministry. The consultation process is on-going.

« A letter was co-authored by the two unions Unicongo and Unibois and others companies to the Prime Minister of Congo » …. regarding the project of the new Forest Code »

Finally, under the leadership of ATIBT Congo, a letter was co-authored by the two unions Unicongo and Unibois and some companies to the Prime Minister of Congo to share the concerns of the forestry sector about the project of the new Forest Code, especially regarding: the total transformation of the log processing, the ban of foreign companies to exercise in the Congo, the Sharing of log production and finally the royalty of 15% of turnover. This letter highlights the very high probability that many logging companies will have great difficulties if the application of the current provisions is effective. An audience was requested.

In this project, ATIBT nevertheless noted the integration of new regulations such as the FLEGT VPA, forest certification, payment for environmental services and carbon credits, while insisting that the government of Congo must be a partner of companies with a solid legal and fiscal framework .

Thus, the ATIBT Congo makes every effort to fulfill its functions:

To federate and support existing unions to create a common path,
To support the advocacy of forest companies,
To contribute to the facilitation of the implementation of the VPA
To provide forest companies with support for third-party verified legal certification
To contribute to the facilitation of the implementation of the VPA / FLEGT