Forest Certification Programme - Gabon

Context

Forest degradation represents 50 to 80 % of Gabon's greenhouse gas emissions.

In 2015, 150 companies in Gabon were operating with logging permits that covered less than 50 percent of total forest area. In September 2018, Gabonese President S-E. Ali Bongo declared that all logging concessions must be certified by 2022. By 2020, 17 % of concessions were certified, including 14 % by the Forest Stewardship Council. The label that operators obtain through certification serves as a marketing tool to promote sustainable forest products.

The Forest Certification Programme, funded by CAFI, aims to support the sustainable and productive development of the forest sector by accompanying the Gabonese government's efforts to ensure sustainable forest management through certification and to reduce illegal logging. 

To establish a national forest certification strategy, the programme coordinates efforts to develop a national definition of norms and standards for certification and promotes a structured dialogue among stakeholders, including public administrations, private sector operators and unions, and certification bodies.

National partners:

Ministry of Water and Forests, Sea and the Environment ; National Climate Council; National Agency for National Parks; Agency for the Implementation of Forest-Timber Sector activities ; Gabonese Standardization Agency.

Implementing agency:

The Nature Conservancy

7.00M

dollars in funding approved in 2021

4.40M

dollars transferred by end 2022

4.40M

dollars transferred by end 2022

30.00

forest law enforcement officers expected to be trained

100.00%

of logging concessions to be certified by 2022

30.00M

tons of CO2 emission reductions per year expected by 2025

Objectives

The main objectives are to ensure that all logging concessions in Gabon are certified by 2022 and that all timber exported from Gabon is certified.

To achieve this, a national forest certification programme will be developed and implemented, and an elite forest law enforcement unit will be established within the Ministry of Forestry, the Sea and the Environment to combat illegal logging and failure to comply with national forest laws.

Expected results

(This programme is in inception phase - progress and results will be updated after one full year of implementation)

  • Institutional protocols are defined and applied for public policy reform and implementation of supervision and project monitoring
  • A register of operators participating in the certification process is created
  • A strategy to supervise, monitor and conduct field audits is implemented 
  • Emission monitoring protocols for forest concessions are defined, and reports submitted by the private sector are validated
  • Government officials and private sector employees are trained to apply and monitor national certification standards
  • 30 officers  are identified and trained to constitute an elite unit responsible for enforcing forest laws, supported by tracker/sniffer dogs
  • All national standards and legal reforms are needed to formalize mandatory certification are validated and published
  • Populations living in or near forest concessions express satisfaction  regarding the certification process.

Area of Intervention

National

Synergies

The programme builds on the plans and structures implemented by the ongoing CAFI-funded programme on National Land Use Planning and Forest Monitoring to Promote Sustainable Development Strategies for Gabon

In the Letter of Intent (LoI) signed between Gabon and CAFI in June 2017, Gabon committed to reducing its GHG emissions from forestry activities by 50 percent by 2025 and to a number of milestones. The Forest Certification Programme will help:

  • implement forest management plans (LoI milestones 2019 3 c, 3 d ii)
  • finalize and implement the legal framework for forest management and timber harvesting and trade (milestone 2019 3 d i)
  • strengthen the capacity of the forest administration to monitor and enforce the laws (milestones 2019 3 d iii);
  • establish a target for emission reductions per hectare and total emissions from forest degradation, and to develop an action plan to achieve this target (milestone 2019 3 f).

Key Resources

Project document - Forest certification programme - Gabon (in French)

Project document - Forest certification programme - Gabon (in French), 18 Dec 2020

18 Dec 2020

Link to CAFI Drive - Gabon Forest Certification

Link to CAFI Drive - Gabon Forest Certification, 15 Feb 2021

15 Feb 2021

 

Photocredit: Danae Maniatis, UNDP