DRC : Indicators

Freedom of Information Law

A draft law has been submitted to the Senate and is waiting to be reviewed by the ad hoc commission in order to be included for adoption in a parliamentary session’s agenda. Read more...

The agenda drawn up by the World Bank in 2007 is used as a forest policy document, while the actual forest policy document is being drafted by the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Tourism. A draft document is not yet available to the public. Read more...

Codified Forest Laws and Norms

There is a law related to the Forestry Code and 37 regulatory measures out of the expected 45, as well as about twenty operational guides for forest management, but the code and forestry regulations have not been implemented consistently due to several issues, including the lack of regulation at the provincial and local level. Read more...

Signed International Trade Agreements on Forests

There are on-going negotiations on the Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade Voluntary Partnership Agreement between DRC and the European Union. The agreement is expected to be signed in June 2013. The Congolese government is also a signatory to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Read more...

Provisions for Transparency in Forest Laws

The Congolese Forest Code does not include clear provisions for transparency. Only articles 83 to 86 describe the procedures and way in which concessions are acquired by auction. Such provisions are insufficient to guarantee transparency in the forest concession acquisition process. Read more...

Legal Recognition of Customary and Traditional Rights

The Forest Code recognises customary and traditional rights, primarily in the context of requests for the acquisition of local community forests and the usage rights of communities living within and around concessions, as well as social agreements related to the implementation socio-economic infrastructure by concessionaries to benefit these communities. Read more...

Legally Recognised Procedure for Consultation on New Forest-Related Norms

Some legal texts set out consultation procedures, for example for forest classification. Consultation is increasingly established as a standard procedure in the elaboration of new norms. However, forest communities’ points of view are hardly ever considered by the authorities during the decision-making process. Moreover, communities are not always given comprehensive information during consultations. Read more...

Law Recognising Right to Free Prior Informed Consent

Free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) is mentioned in the forest code and in the law on the fundamental principles related to the protection of the environment. It is also mentioned as an essential part of the REDD process. Nevertheless, the legal recognition of FPIC has not yet been implemented in regulations or communicated to communities, who are not informed of their rights. Read more...

National Land Tenure Policy

There is no national land policy in DRC. The land tenure code was promulgated before a land policy was developed, but there are many inconsistencies and conflicts between the land tenure code and other legislation (for example, relating to forests, oil and mining). Read more...

Land Ownership and Forest Use Maps

The only available maps are very general; the maps specific to concessions are not accessible to the public and remain in the hands of concession holders. The World Resources Institute, with the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Tourism’s cooperation, has produced a map detailing forest concessions. Read more...

Regulated Permit System for Commercial Logging Operations

At the moment there is still a moratorium on the granting of new industrial logging concessions. There is a well-established permit system, although the conversion criteria to be met prior to being granted a permit have only been partly complied with. It remains difficult to access logging permits in general from the authorities and permit-holders. Read more...

Legal Requirement for Stakeholder Consultation before Allocation of Commercial Logging Permits

There are no regulations requiring consultation as part of the allocation of logging permits. However, consultations take place during the granting of a concession and the drawing up of management plans, and industrial logging operators have to sign “social agreements” with affected local communities before contracts can be signed with the government. Read more...

Verification Process (Due Diligence) of the Eligibility of Permit Applicants

An inter-ministerial commission published and disseminated in 2008 the results of the legal review on the conversion of former forest titles. Because of the moratorium on new forestry allocations, new concessions cannot be granted. This is leading to an increase in artisanal logging, for which there is no due diligence process. Read more...

Forest Management Plans

The management plans of logging companies are only available upon request. They are not available on the internet, although the Forest Code states that they should be published. Often, neighbouring communities are not sent any management plans. Read more...

Regulation of Environmental Services

There is no regulation that applies to the environmental services of forests. The question of ownership of carbon has started to be discussed in the context of REDD processes, but the development of a law is still far off. DRC has signed the Biodiversity Convention, but there are no regulatory instruments for its application. Read more...

Strategic Environmental Assessment of Development Priorities

The need for a land use plan is widely recognised but such a process, which involves various ministries, has not yet commenced. The REDD process requires macro and micro zoning, but there are various opinions as to which type should be carried out first. Little progress is currently being made. Read more...

Independent Monitoring of Forest Governance and Operations

In 2010 the Congolese government signed a partnership agreement with the NGO REM to play the role of Independent Forest Monitor. REM has already led some missions to record violations of the Forest Code in the Equateur and Bandundu provinces. However, the review committee to approve publication of its reports has not yet been set up. Read more...

Forestry Tax Collection and Funding Systems

Since the beginning of 2011, the government has started uploading quarterly reports to the Internet showing a summary of taxes collected from the mining, oil and forest sectors, but there is no transparency in terms of forest royalties’ redistribution. Read more...

Forest Infractions

In accordance with the Forest Code, the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Tourism is in charge of monitoring infractions and collecting related data. It has delegated this task to the Department for Control and Verification and its forest inspectors. Due to the weakness and inadequacies of the authorities, few checks has been carried out so far and, consequently, little information is available and few forest infractions are pursued by relevant services. Read more...