Save the Forests of Congo

Now that I've exercised the creative synapses for the day, I set my aim on a more sobering topic- the fight for what is in essence the second cleansing 'lung' of the global ecosystem- Africa's great rainforests.

After many years of unrest and turbulence in the Congo Africa region, which has kept global logging firms at bay, recent efforts by the World Bank to placate and 'stabilize' the region has paved the way for over 160 logging firms to rush into the area in a feeding frenzy to extract the precious hardwoods which are shipped off to all corners of the world.

An estimated 40 million people depend on these woodlands, surviving on traditional livelihoods. At a global level, Congo's forests act as the planet's second lung, counterpart to the rapidly dwindling Amazon. There are a huge "carbon sink," trapping carbon that would otherwise become carbon dioxide, the main cause of global warming. The Congo Basin holds roughly 8 percent of the world's forest-based carbon. These jungles also affect rainfall across the North Atlantic. In other words, these distant forests are crucial to the future of climate stability, a bulwark against runaway climate change.

As mentioned earlier, isolation of the DRC's (Democratic Republic of Congo) woodlands is ending. Since 2003 a massive United Nations mission has helped create relative stability. Now most of the DRC is safe for logging. Over the past four years timber firms have set upon the forest in search of high-priced hardwoods. They control about one-quarter of Congo's forests, an area the size of California.

Blessed by the World Bank as a catalyst of development, the companies operate largely unsupervised because the DRC lacks a functioning system of forest control. The government has written a new forestry code that requires companies to invest in local development and follow a supposedly sustainable, twenty-five year cycle of rotating logging. But many companies ignore this stipulation; some have used intimidation and bribery; others log in blatantly illegal ways with no regard for the damage they are doing.

If these woodlands are deforested, the carbon they trap will be released into the atmosphere. Environmentalists say that if deforestation continues unabated, by 2050 the DRC could release as much carbon dioxide as Britain has in the past sixty years. On the ground, this would likely mean desertification, mass migration, hunger, banditry and war.

Among the major timber firms in the DRC is an American company called Safbois, owned by a secretive family firm called the Blattner Group. The Blattners' other Congo-based businesses include construction, road building, telecommunications, aviation, trucking, port services, and agriculture. The managing director, Daniel Blattner, splits his time between a Philadelphia suburb and the DRC.
The haunting comments of local inhabitants reflect the environmentally, socially, and emotionally devastating impact of Safbois:
"I see the logs going down the river, and it makes me cry," one villager says.

"Our forests are being stolen from us," says another. "It is misery for the communities. Safbois has come in and is taking our future. We do not know what to do."

"With the loss of forest we have much more death and illness," says a third.

"But it is with our complicity, if foreigners profit from our forests," says a teacher.

Environmentalists charge that Safbois is logging in violation of local agreements and national laws with no regard for the well-being of people or the environment.
The World Bank and the IFC (International Finance Corporation), despite its stated concern for the rule of law and sustained forestry, is directly invested in some of the worst Congo logging. In one case the World Bank had invested $15 million in tainted logging company Olam which was involved in lying about logging activities and leveraging special concessions for their organization. IFC spokespeople are unfazed in their admission "Olam is a client of ours in several countries. We consider them a responsible company." When pressed to comment on the DRC's legal actions against the improprieties of Olan, specifically if they were grounds to reconsider their investment, IFC spokesperson Corrie Shanahan replied "We believe Olam has good intentions, and I can't comment on the opinions of the DRC government."

The story of the emerging exploitation of DRC forests is a perfect example of the face of the 'New World Order' that unsettles many observers- A new world structure in which extremely powerful global companies are funded by WORLD BANKS and leverage unfettered exploitation over powerless inhabitants of a region containing the resource they want.

If the forests are to be saved, there will have to be north-to-south subsidies-- call them conservation concessions or climate reparations. Paying the DRC not to log is hardly without problems, such as the boundless corruption of local officialdom--but even despite this, subsidies could help to keep chainsaw and bulldozers out of the forests.
If Congo is deforested, the impact will be grim-- and global.

Brave New World? Frightening New World.