Technical assistance to Sustainable Forest Management Programme (SFMP) Democratic Republic of the Congo

Context of the service

The DRC is covered by 126 Mha of forests and the current rate of deforestation is limited (0.22% per year), but is expected to accelerate, given the high population growth rate (3.3% per year) and the strong impact of activities on forests: slash-and-burn agriculture, collection of wood energy, service wood, NTFP, mining, etc. all aggravated by weak governance. The PGDF is implemented by the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (MEDD), with the support of technical assistance based in Kinshasa (7 executives) and in five provinces: Maï-Ndombe, Equateur, Mongala, Tshopo and Ituri (16 executives). Its expected results are as follows:
- Definition and implementation of a forest policy;
- Promotion of legal artisanal logging, practiced by community concessionaires and decentralized territorial entities;
- Strengthening the capacity of forest services to ensure the legality of industrial logging.

Services provided

SalvaTerra provides a permanent technical assistant based in Kinshasa for 4 years and operating in the 5 pilot Provinces. Its activities target support for the formalization and legalization of operators in the artisanal sector, which represents 94% of the volumes of timber harvested (compared to 6% for the industrial sector). Its specific tasks are as follows:
- Develop appropriate technical procedures and tools to promote legal and sustainable artisanal operations;
- Train artisanal operators and forest service agents in the five Provinces;
- Test procedures and tools on pilot sites, in particular through industrial/artisanal partnerships.
In addition to this permanent technical assistance, SalvaTerra provides short-term expertise and backstopping missions on these subjects.

Summary of the service

Technical assistance to the Sustainable Forest Management Programme (PGDF): Development of procedures and technical tools adapted to promote legal and sustainable artisanal logging (NB: artisanal sector = 94% of the volumes harvested in timber in the DRC); Training of artisanal operators and forest service agents in the five pilot provinces (Maï-Ndombe, Equateur, Mongala, Tshopo and Ituri); Testing of procedures and tools on pilot sites, in particular through industrial/artisanal partnerships.