Greenpeace attacks Congo timber trade

International logging companies operating in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are causing social chaos and wreaking environmental havoc according to a damning new report launched by Greenpeace today.
 

The organization said its report, Carving up the Congo, uncovers endemic corruption and impunity in the DRC's logging sector at a time when key decisions that will determine the future of these forests are about to be made.
 
Greenpeace senior forest campaigner Belinda Fletcher said: "It's crunch time for the DRC's rainforests. The international logging industry operating in the country is completely out of control. Unless the World Bank helps the DRC to stop the sell off of these rainforests, they'll soon be under the chainsaws.
 
"Its appalling the UK importers are buying timber from companies who are wreaking such environmental and social havoc in the DRC. We are calling on the timber trade to stop buying products from logging companies in the DRC which are in breach of the moratorium and from logging companies operating inside intact forest landscapes and other key conservation areas."
 
Greenpeace is calling for the cancellation of all logging titles issued since May 2002 and for the moratorium on new logging titles to be extended and enforced until the logging sector is cleaned up and controlled and a land-use plan that includes the participation of local communities is fully in place.

Greenpeace estimated that forest clearance in the DRC will release 34.4 billion tonnes of C02 by 2050. This figure is the equivalent to the UK's total emissions over the last 60 years.