Maputo — The
Mozambican government is proposing a total ban on all exports of
unprocessed logs, regardless of the tree species from which they come,
reports Tuesday's issue of the Maputo daily “Noticias”.
The national
director of forests in the Ministry of Land, Environment and Rural
Development, Xavier Sakambuera, told the paper a bill on this matter has
already been drafted and deposited with the country's parliament, the
Assembly of the Republic.
There have been
many haphazard attempts in the past to outlaw the export of logs from
particular species of hardwoods, but this would be the first blanket ban
on the export of all logs. As such it is bound to meet with ferocious
opposition from logging interests, who are busy destroying Mozambique's
forests to sell unprocessed wood to foreign buyers, often from China.
A complete ban
means that forest wardens and customs inspectors will no longer have to
determine what kind of trees the logs come from, since all log exports
will be illegal.
Current estimates
are that Mozambique is losing 220,000 hectares of forest a year. This is
due not only to logging, but to the uncontrolled bush fires associated
with slash and burn agriculture, and the clearing of land for building
purposes.
Sakambuera said the
government hopes a ban will greatly reduce illegal logging, and will
create more jobs in the timber processing industry.
“There will be a
modernization of technology in the timber industry”, he forecast, “which
will add value to the product at all stages in the production chain”.
Sakambuera added
that, with an export ban in place, the government hopes to harmonise the
prices charged in marketing wood throughout the country.
