Free, prior and informed consent: Implications for sustainable forest management in the Congo Basin
2009
This chapter examines changes that are occurring in the way in which local forest
populations, particularly Pygmy hunter-gatherers, are consulted and involved in the
management of forest concessions in the Congo Basin. Demand for timber certified
by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is growing and some forest companies
operating in the Congo Basin wish to achieve the high standards of FSC forest
management to benefit from the market opportunities opened up to FSC-certified
timber. Through this process, forest companies are becoming answerable not just to
individual states’ code forestier, but to supra-national bodies with international standards
of sustainable forest management (which generally encapsulate and surpass national
ones). Principles 2 and 3 of the FSC standard demand the gaining of free, prior and
informed consent (FPIC) for exploitation. Theoretically, FPIC means that
communities living in the concessions should be fully informed about intended
forestry activities and freely give their consent before any of these activities begin. The
aim is to leave the local population room to refuse the company’s exploitation or to
negotiate with it on the management of forest resources. While this may seem clear on
paper, in practice a lot of problems may arise, many of which are specific to the local
social context. How do you achieve equal participation and free consent from
indigenous hunter-gatherers who are politically marginalized by their farmer
neighbours? Can it be said that consent is freely given when for local populations
agreeing to logging activities is their only means of obtaining education, healthcare
and basic infrastructure? How do you ensure complete consultation among a mobile
hunter-gatherer population? Moreover, can FSC auditors prove this has beenachieved? This chapter summarizes preliminary results from a feasibility study
conducted in five major forest concessions in the Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC), the Republic of Congo and Gabon. By looking at the possibilities offered by
FPIC and the difficulties surrounding its implementation, this chapter will evaluate if
and under which conditions these FSC criteria could give local populations control
over forest use and improve their living conditions. This chapter seeks to provoke
debate on whether the universal theoretical concept of FPIC can respond to specific
local human needs and situations.
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