An overview of the timber traceability systems
in Congo Basin countries

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Released on International Day of Forests 2023, this report highlights the complexity of ensuring sustainable forest management in the Congo Basin which is critical to combating climate change and contributing to the prosperity and well-being of current and future generations.

The Tanzania Forestry Service Agency worked with TRAFFIC to develop an electronic timber tracker system accessible through handheld devices or ‘Point of Sale’ devices. Piloted first from 2016 to 2018, the government adopted the system for countrywide use in 2019. Even within a short timeframe, the system has shown promising results and remains the primary method for controlling and monitoring timber and non-wood products exploitation and revenue collection in Tanzania.

“While most Congo Basin countries are still developing or pilot-testing their own systems after more than ten years of high budgets - the Tanzania Forestry Service Agency’s approach emerges as a blueprint model.”

Momballa-Mbun, TRAFFIC’s ReTTA Project Officer

The Congo Basin has lost more than 5.6% of its 260 million hectares of forest cover due to pressure on forest resources and land conversion in the last two decades. Unregulated trade of CITES-listed timber species puts even more pressure on vulnerable species such as African blackwood Dalbergia melanoxylon.

However, steps have been taken in different countries to avoid further loss from over-exploitation. In 2013, five Congo Basin countries and Côte d’Ivoire signed the Brazzaville declaration for the sustainable and legal development of the wood industry, committing to implement measures to improve timber tracking, transparency, and forest governance.

Six Congo Basin countries¹ have since adapted existing paper-based or developed computerised systems to meet the timber management challenges and work towards achieving one of COMIFAC’s 2014-2024 Convergence Plan objectives. These countries, except Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, are developing these systems as part of the VPA-FLEGT² framework.

While some countries have begun applying tamper-proof barcodes, many also face costly obstacles. These challenges include adequately equipping all the traceability checkpoints, seamlessly integrating all the complex information management system modules, ensuring regular access to electricity and the internet, as well as securing the crucial government buy-in.

Report highlights learnings from Tanzania's Timber Tracker System

The new TRAFFIC report titled: An overview of the timber traceability systems in the Congo Basin countries outlines the region’s overall progress and, particularly, Tanzania’s government-owned and supported timber traceability system. It clearly shows how the system that followed an incremental stepwise approach through a series of modifications to solve specific problems resulted in numerous practical advantages, including:

• Cost-effective and practical technologies: mobile equipment at checkpoints dramatically increase transparency in revenue capture and cuts costs.
• Access inspection reports from other checkpoints: to help identify whether a trader or transporter has skipped or bypassed a checkpoint.
• Real-time data access at the headquarters: encourages care and efficiency on the ground, especially as the system records the time and other relevant data points and information recorded at each inspection – reducing chances for negotiation or corruption.
• Photographs of the consignments accompanying the data: enabling easier detection of suspicious activity such as the offloaded or repacking of a consignment.

I highly appreciate the ongoing review of the timber traceability systems in the sub-region by TRAFFIC. I encourage all the countries to share updates on the progress of their systems through COMIFAC’s platforms and to capitalize on the successful Tanzanian experience.”

MAÏDOU Hervé COMIFAC’s Executive Secretary, during a workshop to review the report.

Download report in French