RESPONSIBLE FOREST MANAGEMENT
IFCO holds two forest concessions in the DRC, the concession Baulu 09/11 in the province of Tshuapa and Alibuku 018/11 concession in the province of Tshopo.
On each of the concessions granted to the Forest Industry of Congo, a development inventory was conducted and elaborate development plans were approved by the administration in charge of forests in the Democratic Republic of Congo. These management plans for all activities related to logging such as:
- Materialization in the field of concessions limits and annual cutting plates,
- Operating inventories,
- Construction of forest infrastructures,
- Selection of trees to exploit,
- Felling, cutting of harvested trees,
- Planning of skid trails,
- Skidding and logging of felled trees,
- Preparation and logs marking,
- Logs transport.
The implementation of the management plan is in accordance with different legal texts and more specifically to the Operational Guides produced by the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development. Procedures governing the implementation of forestry operations are formalized, controls are regularly carried out and measures are taken to improve the performance of operators and consequently optimize forest management.
Reduced Impact Forest Exploitation
IFCO carries out the timber harvesting operations that have been intensively planned and carefully controlled to minimize their impact on forest stands and soils.
The EFIR techniques are implemented at all levels of production and reduce the impact of the exploitation activities on the environment: planning of activities, reduction of impacted surfaces, optimization of road construction and crossing works. Water, protection of the trees of future, valorization of the resource, techniques of controlled slaughter, participatory cartography…
Studies and planning
The plans for the development of concessions 09/11 and 018/11 have been carried out by a specialized design office according to the national standards for the development plan, and have been validated by the Ministry of environment and sustainable development.
Environmental impact studies and audits have been carried out in the concessions. The five-year management plan, a document that schedules forest activities on a five-year planning block, is developed in accordance with the regulatory framework adopted by the forest administration. The annual plans of operations premeditate the operation at the scale of the annual Cup plates. These documents are mainly based on the operational inventories analysis results.
CITES
The company is interested to respect CITES Convention provisions and verifies, with each new amendment, that the exploited species are not listed among the extinct species list.
Rural development zone
Waterside populations maintain a special relationship with certain areas in the forest: old village, plantations, cemetery of ancestors, place of rituals, veneration of natural elements (trees, rocks, mountains, rivers).
Similarly, the forest represents a “supermarket” for these populations, where they collect food, Pharmacopoeia and other NWFP (non-woody forest products). The company respects the integrity of these sacred sites and NTFPS; Special provisions are being made to prevent any consequences of logging. Their possible existence is identified in socio-economic studies carried out in collaboration with the representatives of the waterside villages.
