Mozambique: Orange warnings due to rain and drought
The Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, on Wednesday unanimously passed the first reading of a government bill intended to make it possible to ban all exports of logs.
The bill amends a law of 2010 which instituted a surcharge for all exports of unprocessed of semi-processed wood. The purpose of this law was to discourage the export of unprocessed wood, and encourage the appearance of industries that would turn Mozambican timber into furniture and other finished goods.
Introducing the government bill, the Minister of Land, Environment and Rural Development, Celso Correia, admitted that the 2010 law “did not meet any of its objectives, and the country continued to record high levels of the export of logs and poor development of the national processing industry”.
The major weakness of the 2010 law was that it allowed the export of logs, except from class one hardwood species. Exporters got round this by simply claiming that all their logs were from other classes of tree species.
Ever since he was appointed minister in early 2015 Correia has been working for a total ban on the export of logs, and he has now won that battle. The most important article in the government bill simply revokes the clause in the 2010 law that permitted the export of logs.
With the law changed, Correia said, the government can now, with the stroke of a pen, alter the 2002 Regulations on the Forestry and Wildlife Law, which also permitted the export of logs. At the time, this was envisaged as an exception but it quickly became the rule.
Despite the 2010 law, the export of logs increased after it was passed. The legal export of logs rose from 22,846 cubic metres in 2010, to 148,093 cubic metres in 2015. There was also an increase in illegal logging and illegal exports, Correia added. The destination of most of this wood, whether legally or illegally logged, was China.
The new bill, Correia promised, paves the way for an outright ban on the export of logs from any tree species, and will “guarantee the industrialisation of the forestry sector”. It would encourage the export of finished goods with greater added value, and would thus create more jobs.
The bill, he added, is a part of a forestry sector reform programme “seeking to promote the protection, conservation, valuing and use of our forestry heritage, in a rational, responsible and transparent manner, for the economic, social and ecological benefits of Mozambicans, within the framework of sustainable development, and to build resilience to climate change”.
The new surtaxes on semi-processed wood products decline the greater the amount of processing. They range from 20 per cent for simple beams, and 15 per cent for planks to only three per cent for parquet.
The main opposition party, the rebel movement Renamo, saw the government bill as a vindication of its opposition to the 2010 law. Renamo deputy Antonio Timba said Renamo had accurately predicted that the 2010 law “would lead to the looting of forests and to desertification”.
“It was a mistake to allow the export of logs”, he added. “But Frelimo rejected our appeals. Now the government wants to reverse the situation. Better late than never”.
Surveys (quoted by both Frelimo and Renamo deputies) shows that 219,000 hectares of forest were devastated every year. “This has in no way contributed to the development of the country”, said Timba.
Leave a Reply
Be the First to Comment!
You must be logged in to post a comment.
You must be logged in to post a comment.