Mozambican government lifts logging ban

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Mozambican government lifts logging ban

10:55 CAT | 22 Jun 2017

Diário de Moçambique / Minister of Land, Environment and Rural Development Celso Correia

The Mozambican government today lifted the logging ban in effect across the country since the beginning of the year, declaring the 2017 forestry campaign open.

“The closure was established in order to create conditions for the 2017 forestry campaign to permit sustainable exploitation of timber,” Celso Correia, the country’s minister for land, environment and rural development, told a press conference.

Correia said he considered the goal achieved, and introduced new rules for the sector.

The requirements for timber export activity have tightened, and the government has pledged to channel 40 percent of the revenue resulting from the fees charged for the export of the raw material to bolstering inspection capacity.

Another 30 percent of this tax will be allocated to the restoration of native forest, with more remaining 10 percent going to the state budget, combating uncontrolled fires and institutional development.

The Ministry of Land, Environment and Rural Development will from now on determine the points of export of timber, while the National Sustainable Development Fund is empowered to purchase and export timber at a price determined according to market conditions.

Last April, the Mozambican government estimated that the country lost at least US$150 million a year to timber smuggling, characterising the situation as “daylight robbery”.

Source: Lusa