VZCZCXRO5935
RR RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHHM RUEHJO RUEHLN RUEHMA RUEHMR RUEHPA
RUEHPB RUEHPOD RUEHRN RUEHTRO
DE RUEHKI #1037/01 2431227
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 311227Z AUG 07
FM AMEMBASSY KINSHASA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6779
INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE
RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE
RUEHXR/RWANDA COLLECTIVE
RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
RUEHLC/AMEMBASSY LIBREVILLE 2669
RUEHYD/AMEMBASSY YAOUNDE 0227
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 KINSHASA 001037 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD ECON EINV EAGR SENV KGHG CG
SUBJECT: FORESTRY SECTOR REFORM IN THE DRC, PART I OF II 
 
REF: A. SECSTATE 56792 
     ¶B. SECSTATE 87904 
 
1.(SBU) Summary: The GDRC is reviewing 156 forestry titles 
for conversion into new titles as part of its forestry sector 
reform and economic development plan. This conversion process 
is intended to encourage sustainable resource management, 
improved governance, and poverty reduction.  As only one of 
several reforms needed, however, the current title conversion 
process is limited in scope and risks not meeting the 
expectations of broader sector reform. As the first of two 
cables on the DRC's forestry sector reform, this cable 
describes the process by which existing titles are to be 
converted. The second cable (septel) describes reactions to 
this process by the various stakeholders involved.  End 
summary. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
Congo Basin Rainforest: Second Largest in the World 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
2.(U) The Congo River Basin (CRB) includes parts of the 
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Cameroon, Gabon, the 
Republic of the Congo (RC), and Equatorial Guinea, and 
constitutes the second largest rainforest in the world, after 
the Amazon rainforests. Although the largest in Africa, the 
DRC's rainforest has historically been the least commercially 
exploited in the region due to uncertainty over government 
policy, security concerns, weak infrastructure for wood 
processing and exporting, and lack of suitable woods for 
export in the area. 
 
3.(U) Currently, over 22 million hectares (54 million acres) 
in the DRC are officially allocated for commercial logging 
purposes. According to the Congo Basin Forest Partnership 
(CBFP), deforestation in the DRC is occurring at a rate of 
0.26 percent per year, in comparison to 0.19 percent within 
the Central African region as a whole. The GDRC has 
designated eight percent of its total territory (234 million 
ha / 585 million acres) as protected areas and is expected to 
increase this to 15 percent within the coming years. It is 
estimated that 40 million people, including indigenous Pygmy 
communities, depend on the country's 130 million ha (321 
million acres) of forests in some way. 
 
------------------------- 
The DRC Forestry Industry 
------------------------- 
 
4.(U) Commercial logging in the DRC takes place primarily in 
the provinces of Equateur, Orientale, Bandundu, Bas-Congo, 
and the Kasais.  Based on data from 17 companies, the 
industry is working below its sawing capacity, contributing 
only 0.7 percent to GNP in 2004 -- the last year for which 
data are available. Estimated total logging production that 
year was over 3 million cubic feet - the lowest of any 
country in the Congo River Basin. Revenue is generated 
primarily from exports to the EU. In 2004, approximately 64 
percent (2 million cubic feet) of timber cut was exported -- 
nearly half of this total was imported by Belgium and 
Portugal. According to USAID/CARPE's 2006 "State of the 
Forest" report, a  significant portion of the forestry 
industry also serves the domestic and trans-border markets 
for low-grade wood through the informal sector, accounting 
for approximately 17 percent of total exports in 2004. 
(Comment: Much of the trans-border timber exports is assumed 
to be illegal given that only two commercial logging 
concessions exist east of Kisangani. End comment.) 
 
5.(U) Approximately 60 lumber companies are registered with 
the Ministry of Environment's Directorate-General for 
Forests. The majority of these producers shut down in the 
late 1990,s due to insecurity. It is estimated that only 20 
companies are operational today. SAFBOIS (A Congolese 
subsidiary company of the American-owned Blattner Group), 
SIFORCO (a subsidiary of German-owned Danzer Group), and 
SODEFOR (member of Portuguese holding company NST) are the 
industry leaders and account for two-thirds of the titles 
pending conversion. Medium-sized entities include Trans-M and 
ITB, both Lebanese-owned subsidiaries. The remainder of 
companies are primarily small, family-owned firms. 
 
 
KINSHASA 00001037  002 OF 004 
 
 
6.(U) Sector interests are generally represented by the 
Fdration des Enterprises du Congo (FEC), the Congolese 
Chamber of Commerce, and Fdration des Industrialistes du 
Bois (FIB), a branch of the FEC whose membership requires 
compliance with specific logging practices and standards. 
Currently, the FIB includes 14 of the 20 primary logging 
companies in the DRC which, it claims, employ approximately 
15,000 people and which have invested over USD 259 million in 
the DRC's forestry industry. 
 
7.(U) Private sector representatives reported that, unlike in 
the past, security issues are not a major hindrance to sector 
performance in Western Congo today; however, poor road and 
waterway infrastructure continues to be a major obstacle. As 
explained by a senior fellow at the World Resources 
Institute, even if all of DRC's potential forestry 
concessions were commercially logged, these infrastructural 
conditions would continue to inhibit the sector's long-term 
growth. 
 
8.(U) Forestry taxes are levied on the basis of concession 
surface area, volume harvested, export sales, and area 
deforested, amongst other factors. Area-based taxes, such as 
surface area and felling permit taxes, provide the bulk of 
tax revenue for the State. Few official statistics exist 
regarding the forestry sector's contribution to the DRC's 
economy; those which do exist are often conflicting or 
unreliable. According to a 2004 study by the UN's Food and 
Agricultural Organization (FAO), tax revenues from the 
forestry sector were estimated to be USD 1.5 million per year 
- in stark contrast to the USD 7.5 million FIB claims to have 
paid between January and September of 2005. 
 
9.(SBU) Applying basic tax rates to estimated land holdings 
and production rates, tax revenues due to the GDRC should be 
at least USD 17.7 million when not including other relevant 
export, equipment, labor taxes etc. Taking FIB's reported tax 
expenses in 2005 of USD 7.5 million, it becomes clear that 
the GDRC should be collecting at least two to three times 
more in taxes than is reported. Though estimating different 
tax revenues, the 2004 FAO report also found tax payments in 
the forestry sector to be generally low, but evasion high. It 
recommended that greater attention be given to monitoring tax 
collection, taxing the informal forestry sector, and 
increasing export taxes on unprocessed products (logs). 
 
TAX        TAX RATE     HOLDINGS     TOTAL 
          (USD)        (ha)         (USD) 
 
Surface    0.50/ha     22 million    11 million 
Area* 
 
Felling    2.00/ha        360,000 
720,000 
Permit** 
 
Gross      50 %                      6 million 
Revenue*** 
 
--------------------------------------------- --------------- 
 
Total:                              17.72 million 
 
 
* Currently, surface area tax is USD 0.50/ha; however, the 
Ministry of Environment has indicated that it will soon 
increase this to USD 1.00/ha, as in most other African 
countries. Surface rates are applied here to the entire area 
of commercial forestry concessions in the DRC (22 million 
ha). 
 
** The FIB companies cover approximately 9 million ha, of 
which they say only 4 percent, or 360,000 ha, is exploitable. 
 
*** Wood value ranges from USD 50-400/m3. Average value of 
wood estimate: USD 130/m3. USD 130 x 90,000 m3 logs produced 
by DRC in 2004 = USD 12 million gross revenue. (Note: FIB 
claims to earn USD 3.5 million for 12,000 m3 of wood per 
month. End note.) 
 
--------------- 
Legal Framework 
 
KINSHASA 00001037  003 OF 004 
 
 
--------------- 
 
10.(U) The 2002 Forestry Code provides a legal framework for 
the DRC's logging industry. It envisions the replacement of 
older "letters of intent" and "supply guarantees" with a new 
type of "concession" which requires logging companies to 
implement sustainable forestry management plans (SFMP) and 
make contributions to local communities under a specified 
'cahier de charge' (business plan) which takes 
local-community development into consideration.  The Code 
requires concessions to be exploited within 18 months of 
being issued and allows the GDRC to reclaim concessions 
unexploited for two consecutive years. It also acknowledges, 
for the first time, the rights of forest-dependent 
communities to natural resources and mandates that 40 percent 
of surface area taxes on concessions be returned to 
decentralized administrative entities. (Comment: This 
"retrocession" is intended to support local development. End 
comment.) 
 
11.(U) Within a year of publishing the Forestry Code, the 
DRC's Ministry of Environment canceled 25 million of 41 
million ha (62 million of 101 million acres) worth of 
concessions, the majority of which had never been exploited, 
and implemented a moratorium on granting new forestry 
concessions.  Not officially published until 2004, the 
moratorium's legal status was unclear for a number of years 
and concessions continued to be granted until 2005. (Note: 
According to Greenpeace, 107 new contracts, covering 15 
million ha. or 37 million acres, were signed by April 2006. 
End note.) Following joint recommendations from the World 
Bank, USG, FAO and European Community, President Kabila 
issued a decree on October 24, 2005 reinstating the 
moratorium and establishing a process for canceling titles 
not in accordance with the 2002 Forestry Code. Under the 
decree, the moratorium cannot be lifted until the concession 
conversion process is completed, its results are made public, 
and a geographic plan for concession allocations covering the 
next three years has been created. 
 
----------------------------- 
Conversion Process and Status 
----------------------------- 
 
12.(SBU) The title conversion process consists of 
application, verification, and final assessment phases. 
Covering 25 million ha (62 million acres), 156 applications 
were received by the GDRC before the January 2006 deadline. 
Validation of these applications is now being conducted 
through on-site visits to each concession by a Technical 
Working Group (TWG) consisting of reps from the Forestry 
Department, Taxation Department, and Permanent Forest 
Inventory and Management Service.  Validation of applications 
by the TWG is to be based on: the legal validity of the 
existing title; conformity with legal, social, economic, and 
fiscal responsibilities of the title owner since the signing 
of the title; maintenance of a wood processing plant; and 
analysis of a proposed business plan. (Note: Legal validity 
of titles is determined by compliance with rules and 
regulations existing at the time of signature, such as full 
payment of area taxes since 2003 and respect for concession 
limits. No mention is made of legality in terms of the 
moratorium. End note.) 
 
13.(SBU) The TWG has reviewed 114 titles; however, the 
process has stalled as funding to assess the remaining 42 
titles has been secured only recently through the World Bank. 
(Note: The World Bank will provide USD 106,000 to complete 
the review of the remaining 42 titles. The Bank also provided 
USD 150,000 to review the first 114 titles under Phase I of 
the reviews. End note.) The World Resource Institute's Global 
Forest Watch (WRI-GFW) is an independent observer of the TWG 
and has completed its own assessment of the 156 titles in 
question. 
 
14.(SBU) Applications approved by the TWG are to be passed on 
to an Inter-Ministerial Commission (IMC) for a final 
decision. Based in Kinshasa, the IMC will include 
representatives from the private sector, GDRC, and 
forest-dependent communities. Community reps must be elected 
by their community and be literate.  Reps may include up to 1 
Bantu (African population majority) and 1 Pygmy 
 
KINSHASA 00001037  004 OF 004 
 
 
representative from each affected community.  WRI-GFW, along 
with the Belgium consulting firm AGRECO, is assisting local 
NGOs with the selection and training of these 
representatives. The IMC has yet to convene since President 
Kabila has not reappointed ministerial representatives 
following the 2006 national elections and seating of the new 
government in 2007. (Note: Seats had previously been reserved 
on the IMC for ministries which were dissolved with 
elections. End note.) According to USAID/CARPE, the draft 
decree re-formulating the IMC should pass the president's 
desk soon. Sector observers from both the private and public 
sector are confident the Commission can complete its work in 
a matter of days once it is formed and expect this to be 
before the end of the year. (Comment: Some outside observers, 
such as Francoise Van de Van, secretary-general for FIB, have 
express growing suspicion as to the "true causes" of these 
delays and have begun to question the GDRC's commitment to 
this process. End comment.) 
 
15.(U) Companies granted title conversions by the IMC have up 
to four years to complete a Sustainable Forest Management 
Plan, at which point permanent boundaries and terms of 
contract will be determined. According to Greenpeace, the 107 
titles granted after the announcement of the moratorium in 
2002 should be considered illegal. It is widely expected that 
over half of these concessions will be canceled for violating 
the moratorium and/or other major aspects of the Forestry 
Code such as tax requirements and community development 
responsibilities. The Minister of Environment, Didace Pembe 
Bokiaga, implied as much when he told a local news source 
that, in addition to the 3 million ha already canceled, he 
was prepared to "cancel at least an additional 12 to 15 
million ha (30 to 37 million acres)." Ambiguity as to how the 
IMC will treat post-2002 concessions has led to increased 
uncertainty within the forestry industry, particularly 
amongst private concession holders (septel). 
 
------- 
Comment 
------- 
 
16.(SBU) Efforts to reform the DRC's forestry sector through 
the concession conversion process represent a first attempt 
by the GDRC to move towards sustainable natural resource 
management. This approach may provide a model for the reform 
of other extractive industries in the DRC in order to promote 
economic growth, social development, and improved governance 
while protecting the environment. As discussed in septel, the 
title conversion process can only be considered an initial 
and necessary first step in what is a much longer and larger 
reform process needed by the Congolese forestry sector. 
 
 
 
BROCK