as considered in Cameroon the Congo, Gabon and the Ivory Coast
Franz Schmithüsen
FRANZ SCHMITHÜSEN is a forester in Baden Württemberg, Federal Republic of Germany. He was a member of the Forestry Department of the FAO when he wrote this article.
Establishing realistic objectives of forest policy and laying them down in legal terms is indispensable for a balanced expansion of forest resources utilization. In the French-speaking countries of West Africa, considerable progress has been made in the evolution of forest legislation geared to the sector's socio-economic development. Previous regulations applied uniformly in all French-speaking territories of the region have been gradually replaced by national legislations, and new laws and decrees have been adopted to ensure a more sustained development of forestry sector and wood processing industries. The way in which the timber-producing countries have changed their legal framework varies considerably: forest laws were completely revised in Cameroon (1973) and the Congo (1974); legal provisions were greatly improved in the Ivory Coast (1965/66 and 1972/ 73), and part of the former legislations was modified by numerous amendments in Gabon (1961/68).
Legislation has been adapted to the local needs of the forestry sector especially in Cameroon and the Congo in recent forest codes and their implementing decrees which in many ways take into account the importance of modern forest law concerning the ownership and legal status of forest land are particularly remarkable: they are an interesting synthesis of provisions previously in force in the French- and English-speaking areas of that formerly divided country. In the Congolese forest code, special :mention must be made of the regulation of exploitation rights and detailed provisions of the laws on the forest fiscal system.
In the Ivory Coast, forest legislation has undergone many changes, for instance with respect to the granting of exploitation rights, roundwood supply to the local industry, and assessment of log export duties but much more legal work in this field is needed.
Gabon's forest law has largely retained its pre-independence regulations which are obsolete and inadequate. The numerous laws, decrees and administrative orders would have to be recast into clear, intelligible and shorter texts. This applies in particular to decrees. At the same time, the routine aspects of certain problems need regulations rather than decrees. Finally, fundamental aspects such as a more adequate management of forest ret sources and a more effective supervision of exploitation need to be covered by specific legislation.
The comparative analysis of legislation in these four countries leads to the conclusion that the modifications of forest law reflect the same trends with the following main factors:
· More rational use of raw material by laying down a minimum of essential conditions of long-term forest management.· A higher percentage of local processing by giving priority to supplying integrated industrial plant with raw material.
· Greater participation by nationals in the capital and management of enterprises in this sector and more rapid training of administrative and technical personnel of the wood industry.
· Higher fiscal revenue from exploitation by applying appropriate methods of stumpage appraisal.
The legislative basis for granting permits and concessions has in principle been the same in the four countries, with some differences regarding the duration of permits and the concession area in line with the structure and size of exploitation or processing companies. Three categories of concessions may be distinguished at present: long-term concessions for supplying large integrated forest industries; medium-term concessions for highly mechanized exploitation companies, and short-term concessions for small enterprises and local operators.
The introduction of long-term concessions covering large areas, issued with the specific aim of promoting the establishment of new integrated industries, deserves particular attention. This new type of concession, "the industrial permit," first appeared in the Ivory Coast in 1965 and shortly afterwards in Gabon and the Congo. It was granted only to enterprises which undertook to process locally a certain percentage of logs. In 1968, major exploitation licences were issued to new enterprises also in Cameroon.
The first results of this type of concession have been rather counterproductive. By distributing large areas, these countries have indeed attracted a number of major forestry enterprises, but after the establishment of some processing units, these concessions favoured log exports even more than before. In fact, the rate of local processing has not exceeded 30 to 40 percent of roundwood production at this writing. The lack of strong and clear provisions obliging concessionaires to process a substantial percentage of their log production within the country, and the absence of controls to ensure their application are the main reasons for this state of affairs.
As a consequence, some countries introduced new measures for limiting roundwood exports. They set processing quotas for concessionaires with processing plant, or supply quotas obliging operators to supply local industries with a percentage of their log output.
An obligation to process at least 60 percent of log production has applied to all large concessions in Cameroon since 1974. In addition, concessionaires are obliged to build certain processing installations, depending on the size of the concession area as follows:
· Less than 10 000 ha-no obligation.· Areas of 10 000 to 75 000 ha -construction of a sawmill with two band saws, one with a passage of at least 140 cm.
· Areas of 75 000 to 130 000 ha -a sawmill with two band saws, one with a passage of at least 160 cm.
· Areas of 130000 to 175 000 ha -a sawmill two headsaws, one with a passage of at least 180 cm.
· Areas of 175 000 to 250 000 ha -a veneer-peeling or plywood plant and sawmill with two band saws, one with a passage of at least 160 cm.
ABIDJAN HARBOUR, IVORY COAST the economics of logging can be improved by legislation
In the Congo, the minimum processing quota is 40 percent for northern forests. For the unexploited southern forests a processing rate of 100 percent is scheduled for okoumé and of at least 50 percent for the other exploitable species,.
In the Ivory Coast, Decree No. 543 of 1972 laid down the principle of supply or processing quotas for all log producers. The quota is now about 66 percent of log export volume for most enterprises and 100 percent of log export volume for companies with very large concessions.
Some countries also have measures for promoting the activity of local enterprises and greater participation of national personnel in the management of timber exploitation and processing companies. These measures also provide for:
· Priority in granting new permits to operators forming production associations in bigger units.
· Investment credits to encourage the establishment of local entrepreneurs.
· An obligation for foreign-capital companies to train national technical and managing personnel.
· The change-over of exploitation units to a new regime with intensified national participation, or to State corporations when the concession expires.
· The construction of certain infrastructures for the use of local population.
Legal provisions regulating the payment of forest dues and fees have been considerably modified in recent years. 'Forest dues and fees" means all payments specifically related to the activity of the forestry sector that enterprises :involved in exploitation, processing and export have to make in exchange for cutting rights or the right to use the raw material. Taxes covering general commercial transactions are not included (import duties on machinery, value added tax, profit tax, etc.).
Forest charges may be divided into export duties collected by the customs service and internal dues paid to the forestry administration or the service of State lands. Internal dues and fees are:
· Fees for granting, extending and transferring exploitation rights.
· The area fee payable annually per hectare of forest granted.
· The felling fee calculated per cubic metre of wood or, under previous regulations, per tree.
· Payments for infrastructural measures in the interest of the local population.
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Republic of the Ivory Coast Population: 5 020 000 (estimated) United Republic of Cameroon Population: 6 530 000 (estimated) People's Republic of the Congo Population: 1 390 000 (estimated) Gabon Population: 530 000 (estimated) |
A LOGGING SITE IN CAMEROON more trained workers are needed as part of a broad reform
Export charges include above all export duty on logs and processed wood products. There are also dues which are specially used for forest management and for financing reforestation; these may be collected as internal or export dues.
Export duty levied on logs and processed wood products is of primary importance at present. According to estimates, it accounts for 80 to 90 percent of all revenue obtained by the State from the use of forest resources. Before independence, export duty was levied by determining market values for every product and applying different fiscal rates according to the species and product categories exported. The market values and rates, expressed in a percentage of those values, were fixed by law and decree. Market values generally were 75-80 percent of the export price (f.o.b. price) and were revised from time to time on the recommendation of the competent administration.
This system, which was applied practically in all French-speaking countries of West Africa, had major drawbacks.
The weakness of the forest fiscal system in most West African countries was probably due to the fact that forest dues and fees were almost exclusively regarded as an instrument of the general fiscal system. It was intended to produce revenue for the State and could be easily handled without having to take into account the economic fluctations of forest production. This attitude shows misunderstanding of the nature of such payments. For all dues and fees levied specifically on timber actually represent the price of raw material which the enterprises of the forest sector must pay to the State as the owner of forest resources. Were this principle to be applied under the present conditions of exploitation in tropical forests, the total burden resulting from the various forest fees would have to correspond to the value of standing trees.
However, a new concept and better understanding of the role of forest fees have gradually gained ground in several countries of the region. The measures make sure that the payments of concessionaires and exporters are determined by following more closely the development of international timber prices, while having regard to economic exploitation and transport conditions. The aim of the measures clearly is to ensure a more realistic financial compensation in return for the cutting rights granted by the State.
The evolution of a new conception in fiscal matters has evidently caused major changes in the legislations. In 1974 the Congo and Cameroon abolished the use of market values fixed by decree in advance. The two countries are now using current export prices (f.o.b.) as the reference unit for calculating fees. In the Ivory Coast, market values have so far been retained but they have been changed more frequently. For instance, between 1971 and 1975 they increased five times. This made it possible to adjust the taxation level more quickly to the real development of export prices. But these measures could not close the gap between price trends and the development of production costs. This is why the export duty rate was changed several times to better adapt it to the price level of marketable species. All these modifications have substantially increased State revenue.
But in spite of a whole range of individual measures for a more active price policy in favour of the forest owner, the legislation of these countries lacked a formal statement that forest fees should correspond as realistically as possible to the value of the raw material. This is why one should particularly note Article 26 of the new Congolese Forest Code which, for the first time, explicitly lays down this principle in forest law. A law on the forest fiscal system, adopted together with the Forest Code, completes the article by stating that:
(a) export duty shall be paid on the basis of average f.o.b. prices, computed every six months(b) the rate of export dues shall be adjusted in line with the economic value of the various species and the different qualities of each species;
(c) the rate of such dues shall differ according to eight regions of the country, taking into account differences in transportation costs, and
(d) in each region consideration may also be given to exploitation costs according to local circumstances.
MAKING RAFTS IN GABON taking logs out is easier than institutionalizing forestry
The law also provides that the new system may be reviewed every five years and that an exceptional revision may take place after the first 30 months of application (considered a transition period).
In most tropical countries of West Africa, forests were exploited during the past 20 years mainly at the initiative of private companies and on the basis of their reaction to the situation of international markets for tropical timber. Only a very small part of standing timber volume was exploited, and fellings did not exceed one to three high-value trees per hectare. This practice involved continuous migration of the forest work sites and of the camps and villages that depended on them. To keep up activities, new forest areas had to be opened up at a fast rate. As a result, log production centres shifted quickly from one region to another or even from one country to another. In the medium and long term, this practice, due to inconsiderate and uncontrolled utilization, threatened to result in under-utilization of raw-material resources and in great instability for the forest economy.
To combat such drawbacks, the utilization of forest resources should be based on planning in large regional timber-exploitation units and be regulated by technical guidelines for forest management. This procedure is also essential for encouraging the establishment of integrated industrial units which would help increase the processing of raw material. Systematic management planning of the dense tropical forests, whereby a rapid development of exploitation may be expected in hitherto inaccessible forest areas, is particularly urgent in the French-speaking countries since major infrastructural improvements have been made and others are being projected. Such improvements include the construction of new ports and the enlargement of existing ones, expansion and improvement of the railroad network, and the construction of new roads for heavy and rapid traffic.
When these countries became independent, their forestry management legislation proved totally inadequate in regard to regional planning of exploitation in large forest areas. No consistent and well-structured technical standards existed for an orderly long-term development of the sector. Thus, annual log production programmes could be freely established by enterprises, without any planning. The progress of exploitation was merely a result of' the number of permits granted to concessionaires. Some operators, after obtaining cutting rights in unexploited areas, endeavoured to use as quickly as possible the valuable species in the forests assigned to them. Others, whose permits were about to expire, tried to obtain quickly new sites near the centres of their operations. At the outset of large-scale exploitation it was difficult to foresee the negative consequences of such a situation because the companies involved at the beginning were few. They had before them immense unexploited forest areas and the liberal distribution of permits facilitated the expansion of forest production. But after a few years, forest areas were subject to increasing exploitation and the commercial species most in demand were becoming less frequent.
The first measure adopted by the administration to ensure a more sustained forest development in each region was to increase the duration of concessions and of the areas assigned to enterprises. Several countries introduced regulations which modified the duration of concessions and the number of permits according to the type of enterprise. This measure was intended in particular to reduce the constant shifting of work sites and to ensure supplies to new processing plants for longer periods. But this attempt failed to bring the expected results. The frequent failures were mainly due to a lack of adequate data on the exploitable volume and its distribution by groups of species in each concession unit. The forestry services were hardly in a position to adjust the progress of exploitation in relation to the resources available in the medium and long term. It was also practically impossible to set cutting quotas which could have served as reference points to the companies for preparing their annual production programmes.
The lack of planning for the utilization of forest resources was further demonstrated by the lack of provisions making it obligatory to draw up management plans for all forest areas where exploitation was envisaged. The absence of such a clause deprived forest administrations of a legal basis for staggering exploitation at regional level in keeping with the principles of sustained resource utilization. Obviously, the lack of management plans fixing annually a maximum volume of exploitation, at least for the commercial species most in demand, was a major factor which favoured the selective felling of valuable logs.
The situation in the Ivory Coast is a good illustration of the evolution of forestry policy in those countries. A large part of its forest area had been opened up to exploitation well before the administration was able to work out technical concepts which could have guided the long-term use of its resources. The granting of exploitation rights and the programming of production were based exclusively on the number of permits, formed by a square of 5 000 by 5 000 metres, which had been assigned to the various concessionaires. Apart from the unit of a "permit," which was small (2 500 hectares) and difficult to mark out on the terrain, there was no administrative or technical regional division which would have facilitated planning For the use of forest areas and control of field operations. It was only in 1972/73 that several important decrees changed the situation.
For example, Decree No. 114 :introduces the concept of "regional supply areas" in which the annually exploitable timber volume shall have a ceiling in line with the potential of forest resources available in each of those units. The decree also provides that the forestry service may issue orders establishing management plans that limit the felling of certain species or groups of species, and that such regulation shall apply to permits already granted or to be granted in future.
A programme for regional inventories covering forest areas of 300 to 500000 hectares was launched to obtain data needed for the preparation of those plans. The inventories were carried out by SODEFOR, a semiautonomous reforestation corporation, and results are now available for most areas. On the basis of the data, it will be possible for each area to draw the outlines of a scheme for the establishment of the wood :industry to ensure long-term supplies to units already set up or those planned for the future. Another clause of the decree facilitates a reorganization of the timber industry. It provides that areas for which exploitation permits expire may be reassigned only to companies having a processing unit or undertaking to build such a unit.
With the institutionalization of regional supply areas and the formal obligation of drawing up management plans for each unit, the administration now has a sufficiently solid legal basis to reorganize the country's forest exploitation. But this will not be easy because, at least in some already assigned forest areas, it will involve a decrease in the annual production of valuable species. Moreover, a reorganization of exploitation will require closer links between enterprises mainly geared to log production for export and processing units which need to be assured of raw-material supplies.
In Gabon, the forestry administration contemplated stabilizing exploitation and ensuring steady supplies to some big processing units. This led to a modification of the permit policy worked out by the Government in 1967. That policy intended to reserve large areas for certain enterprises with sufficient capital to set up integrated forest industries. Modification of the Forestry Code of 1968 created the legal basis for large-scale regional planning and sustained forest management. Article 42 bis and the following articles provide that forests intended in the long term to serve mainly for the production of raw material and for supplying integrated industries shall be classified as forming part of the country's permanent forest domain. Management plans, authorized by decree, shall be prepared for such areas. Section IV of Article 42 is still of particular interest. The objective of forest management is defined as follows: "Management pursuant to Art. 42 ter and its subsequent amendments shall aim in the classified forest at obtaining gradually a timber production whose quantity and value are as high as possible in order to take into account the situation and physical conditions of that forest as well as the economic and social requirements of the region and the country as a whole". This formula may be considered quite progressive, especially if the present situation of dense tropical forest in West Africa is borne in mind. For the first time it establishes the principle that forest use must be based on long-term management or even sustained management. Considering the present conditions of the forest economy in this region, it will probably be difficult to apply it now in all its details. But the fact that it has been embodied in the Forestry Code will certainly facilitate the gradual implementation of a more rational management of the country's large forest areas.
To some extent, the situation in Cameroon would seem to be comparable. In the past ten years large concession units had been granted with regional distribution of work sites. The unified forest law, adopted in 1973, also contains new provisions for orderly management of forest resources. Article 16 of the Forestry Code provides for elaboration of management regulations for all delimited State forests. On the other hand, there are few precise rules defining the main objectives of such management, and the provisions of the implementing decree are not specific on the subject. In addition, delimitation of State forests has made little headway in the French-speaking part of the country. With the exception of one provision in the implementing decree which refers to management outside delimited State forests, the law gives few indications for regional planning and for determining annual exploitation quotas in forest areas which are not yet subject to classifying regulations. The provisions concerning forest management therefore are likely to have fairly little impact, at least in the near future.
In the Congo, provisions on the management of forest resources were completely revised when the Forestry Code was prepared. The new pro visions differ profoundly from the former system under which exploitation rights could be granted without regulating annual feelings and without a management plan. The situation of the forest sector lent itself to the introduction of such major changes because large forest areas were still unexploited in the northern part of the country and the government had already decided in 1970 to stop issuing new permits until the results of inventories and management plans were available.
The long-term management regulations in the Congolese forest legislation may be summed up as follows:
· The country's forest area is divided into regional units called forest management units. They serve as reference points for all forest activities, for example administration, management, exploitation, planning of industries, and control in the field. The forest management units comprise forest areas which have not yet been opened to exploitation and areas where a first felling cycle has taken place. In the case of hitherto unexploited forests, new contracts may be granted only when the results of forest inventories and management plans are available.· For each forest unit, a management plan has to be drawn up, regulating: the long-term use of the forest potential. It should be pointed out that this plan concerns not only timber exploitation but also the tourist aspect of certain forest zones as well as hunting and wildlife protection.
· One of the main objectives of the management plan is to determine an annual cutting quota which lays down an annual maximum exploitable volume for the main commercial species. The plan must also include a general infrastructural scheme specifying the network of forest roads, as well as provisions for silviculture.
· The management unit may be granted in its entirety to one enterprise and the provisions of the management plan in this case are directly applicable to that enterprise. But it is also possible to assign several timber-exploitation contracts in one management unit. Its area is then divided into several forest exploitation units. In line with the management plan, exploitation plans are drawn up for the subdivisions, which fit in with the exploitation contract. The total of annual quotas laid down for the individual units may not exceed the annual maximum volume fixed for the regional unit as a whole.
· Preparation of the management plans is based on the results of regional inventories.
Application of the new regulations facilitates the utilization of forest potential in the long run, the stabilization of exploitation by region, and steady supplies of raw material for trig integrated processing industries. The provisions give the administration a flexible formula to carry on a realistic concession policy and to negotiate new exploitation contracts on more favourable terms. In this way, it would be possible to avoid one of the main difficulties for consistent forestry development that has been noted in several French-speaking countries: the fact that any planning measure is directly linked to a decision on the assignment of cutting rights. By contrast, the regulations of the new Forestry Code clearly re-establish the logical sequence needed for the rational utilization of forests. Forest inventory and management: come first and a decision on the granting of permits can only be taken afterward. The new provisions, incidentally, are along the lines of regulations applied in several English-speaking countries of the tropical zone.
It should be noted that the management measures in the legislation of West Africa do not necessarily imply unconditional enforcement of the principle of a sustained use of forest potential. But the laws in force permit at least to distribuite the exploitable volumes in each regional unit for a fairly long period, for example 30 years. This makes it possible to ensure long term supplies for large wood industries and to establish a stable infrastructure in the main timber-producing regions.
Among the other management measures, mention should be made of clauses fixing minimum diameters for exploitation. Tree fellings are prohibited below those figures. The purpose of these regulations is to preserve trees which have not yet reached an exploitable volume and thus be cut only at a later stage. The forest legislation of most French-speaking countries lays down minimum diameters which generally vary with the different groups of commercial species. But often there are no additional regulations providing for exceptions in the case of areas to be exploited that would not rep-rain permanently without forest cover.
On the whole, the legal framework for utilization and management of tropical forests in West Africa-in its formal and material aspects - has considerably improved in the past few years.
When analysing certain provisions of recent laws and decrees, one might ask whether the forestry administrations of French-speaking countries in West Africa are now able always to ensure their application.
The modernization of forest legislation, aimed at giving the government a stronger influence on the development of the forest sector, should be followed by a strengthening of planning and control instruments for the administration concerned. The French-speaking countries have begun to restructure and expand their forestry services in the past ten years; but the services are all too often handicapped by a shortage of medium- and high-level personnel. The coming years will have to be devoted to training personnel, further strengthening administrative structures and increasing the budgetary resources so that the public forest administrations can apply the legislative provisions and establish effective forest management.
Thus, our main conclusion must certainly be that :new legislative provisions without a substantial reinforcement of the structure and effectiveness of forestry services cannot solve the urgent problems of the forest sector. It should also be stressed that consistent and well-structured forest legislation is an important element to ensure a more rational utilization of forest resources.
