Greenpeace on Thursday urged a top state prosecutor in the Democratic Republic of Congo to investigate allegations that six ex-government ministers granted forestry concessions in violation of a logging moratorium.

The Congo Basin Forest is the world's second largest rainforest after the Amazon, covering two-thirds of the surface of the DRC.

The vast forest plays a vital role in fighting climate change as a major absorber of carbon dioxide. A moratorium on new logging concessions has been in place since 2002.

However, there have long been complaints of irregularities surrounding concessions.

In April, Congolese Environment Minister Eve Bazaiba suspended 12 logging concessions that the country's financial auditor found had violated the moratorium.

She also suspended six other concessions last December.

On Thursday, Greenpeace and five other organisations said they had asked the state prosecutor of Congo's High Court to investigate six ex-government ministers allegedly involved in granting logging concessions between 2014 and 2020.

Irene Wabiwa, who works on the Congo Basin for Greenpeace, said the environmental group wants to establish who is responsible and to "punish the culprits".

"It's high time that impunity ceases to be the norm," she told AFP.

Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi announced last October, ahead of the COP26 climate summit, that he had ordered the suspension of all "doubtful" forestry contracts.

Related Links
Forestry News - Global and Local News, Science and Application

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Brazil responds to less than 3% of deforestation alerts: study
Rio De Janeiro (AFP) May 3, 2022
President Jair Bolsonaro's government has responded to less than three percent of deforestation alerts, a sign that "impunity reigns" in the destruction of Brazil's forests, an environmental monitor said Tuesday. MapBiomas, a consortium that uses satellite images to track the destruction of the Amazon rainforest and other regions in Brazil, said it had launched a new platform to cross-check reported deforestation with government records on fines, arrests and other responses by environmental authorit ... read more