Engelstalige publicatie over illegale houtkap door houtbedrijf Reef in Kameroen.
Auteur: Greenpeace, Forests Monitor, CED
Omschrijving: The Dutch logger and timber trader Reef has an excellent environmental reputation. But Reef’s own logging activities are not always as environmentally and socially responsible as Reef wants its customers to believe.
In March 2003, researchers from Centre pour l’Environnement et le Developpement (CED), Forests Monitor and Greenpeace documented evidence of large-scale illegal logging by Reef in Cameroon. These joint field investigations revealed that Reef has logged outside its legally allocated cutting permit, VC 11-06-13. Also, Reef logged a large area, well outside the official limits of another area, VC 11-06-12.
Using Global Positioning System (GPS) co-ordinates, the investigations have provided evidence of an illegal road network, log ponds1 and abandoned logs outside Reef’s legally allocated logging areas.
Some of the illegally cut logs were found to have been fraudulently marked with Reef’s legal logging title marks, which is a clear method of laundering illegal timber into the marketplace. The investigations also revealed that Reef’s logging operation was very destructive, causing significant ecological damage. Also, it caused significant economic losses to the Cameroonian government, and economic loss and social damage to local communities.
Illegal road construction has destroyed agricultural and cash crops of numerous local villagers. These farmers depend upon these plantations for food and cash incomes, and received no compensation at all. Local villagers were so angry with the company that they blockaded the logging operation using traditional methods (see cover). CED, Forests Monitor and Greenpeace believe that Reef must be held accountable for the damage it has caused, and that the Cameroonian government and the local people must be fully compensated.
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