More than 156 titles forest pass revisitation the Ministry of Environment. The Interministerial Commission for conversion of such securities forest has 45 days to rule on the completion of the process of legal review of titles forest. The results of this work should be seen and accepted by all stakeholders as a means to strengthen control forest and the traceability of forest products in greater transparency.
This process also determines the accountability of the forest administration and operators of the forest sector on the conduct and discipline should be observed now when considering the forest as a public good.
According to the Congolese government, the process of converting former securities forest logging concessions contracts is an operation aimed not only convertibility securities forest, but also the way obliged to respect and strictly implement laws and regulations that organize forest governance in the DRC.
The Congolese people riparian and indigenous peoples, after a few years of procrastination, hesitation and endless discussions, would like to see strengthen control forest and the traceability of forest products, to finally take advantage of their heritage preserved for millennia. These independent entities waiting to see the Government ensure better collection of taxes and timber royalties and control forest performing with the support of independent international structures, as they have always depended on forests with whom they live in harmony since ancient times.
For the government, the Congolese people can not achieve alone the weight of this process. It is important that the international community it means taking compensatory measures with regard to the courageous commitment made by the Congolese government and its people.
This desire to make profitable the indigenous forest is shared by environmental organizations is the case of Greenpeace, which published Wednesday, July 30 a damning report involving a forest operator operating in the DRC in the timber sector. Nearly 8 million owed to the Treasury took an unknown destination through mechanisms under invoicing and reduction of the base of tax revenue. At the time of conversion of forest tracks, the DRC must open the eye and the right one. In the report made public in Zurich, Switzerland, and throughout the world where it is active, Greenpeace demonstrates the mechanisms by which the subsidiary of an international firm "whitens its profits abroad to avoid local taxation." Through a "sophisticated system", the multinational German nationality is the transfer of its profits achieved in the DRC in bank accounts in Europe. More explicitly, the international organization considers the under-valuation of the selling price of logs to its correspondent in Switzerland as an economic crime. The lowest values are reported in the DRC while outside prices on international markets are far superior. The goal is not to pay consequently the fees payable to the State. At the same time, the industrial forest operator charged by the report states in its website that it faces losses at the end of each year in the DRC. And yet in the same period, substantial resources have continued to fuel the bank accounts of the company, revealed Greenpeace. In these circumstances, the tax becomes narrower and lack a clear win for the Congolese Treasury, the tax on profits not paid. Also, it should not be that the process of converting securities forest logging concessions contracts not in it the seeds of its ineffectiveness in perpetuating fraud taking place in taxation.
Recall that on 145 million acres that represent the Congo forests, 60 million hectares are usable, including 1 / 3 are now an industrial and is concerned by the legal review. The law on forestry code, enacted in August 2002 took a considerable delay with regard to legislation.