Story
December 1, 2021
Gabon, Control of the Legality and Traceability of Wood a Proven Reality (French)
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The Due Diligence System (DDS) is a managerial tool meant to promote sustainable forestry which...
This story excerpt was translated from French. To read the original story in full, visit Afrik Environnement. You may also view the original story on the Rainforest Journalism Fund website here. Our website is available in English, Spanish, bahasa Indonesia, French, and Portuguese.
Gabon, a Central African country, is today ranked among the best students in terms of efficient management of forest products, in this case timber from its forest. This is a reality that can be seen today through various mechanisms set up by the Ministry of Forestry via the System of Control of Legality and Traceability of timber (SCLT), which has as its main objective the preservation of forests and better capitalization of the timber species.
Gabon's forestry sector accounts for 60% of the country's non-hydrocarbon GDP. It is one of the main pillars of the economy and a provider of employment with more than 27,000 jobs behind the civil service. In view of the craze generated by the exploitation of wood from Gabonese forests, the ministry in charge of forests set up a system that now allows to control the legality and traceability of wood from the forest to the processing. "In July 2021, the ministry in charge of forests took an order that creates and organizes the operation of a system of control of the legality and traceability of wood from Gabon. It is a set of procedures that range from an audit to a number of controls to certify and guarantee that the wood circulating on the Gabonese market and on international export markets comes from a legal and traceable source. The SCLT-Gabon is placed under the supervision of the Ministry in charge of forests and wood industries, however, third party organizations can be accredited by the administration in charge of forests and wood industries to partially execute the SCLT-Gabon, under the supervision of the said administration. The SCLT-Gabon is operationalized by a technical implementation unit created by decision of the Minister," explained Dr. Ghislain Moussavou, Director of Forests at the Gabonese Ministry of Forests.
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