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Risk Score
93.5
Risk Profile
Higher Risk
Conflict State
Yes
Log Export Restriction
No
Other Timber Export Restrictions
No
Import Regulation
No
Latest Updates Click for latest news from Chad
March 5, 2024
A customs official in Douala unveils illegal timber exports, highlighting the Wagner Group's involvement and the global implications for trade and security.

In May 2023, Cameroon’s Douala Seaport came under scrutiny when a customs official stamped a shipment of timber, unveiling a complex web of illegal exports from West and Central Africa. This incident spotlighted the notorious Wagner Group’s involvement through Wood International Group, a company under US sanctions since last September. The Wagner Group’s operations in Africa, often in exchange for access to natural resources, underscore the blurred lines between legal and illicit economies.

 

Douala has long served as a critical juncture for illicit timber, sourced not only from Cameroon but also from neighboring countries, to be laundered through seemingly legal operations. Sawmills and warehouses proximate to Douala and Kribi ports facilitate this laundering, with China and Vietnam being the prime destinations for these exports.

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July 14, 2023
COORDINATING SECURITY SECTOR RESPONSES TO COUNTER ILLEGAL LOGGING
From July 10-14, 2023, the Africa Center for Strategic Studies hosted a program to improve coordination among officials to counter illegal logging in Africa. Seventy officials from 23 countries participated, focusing on challenges, techniques, and cross-border coordination.
Key insights included the need for better coordination among regional institutions and legislative harmonization. Participants noted the resource imbalance between criminal groups and security forces and emphasized civil society’s role in data tracking and community empowerment.
Successful models like Gabon’s ecoguards and the DRC’s Corps for the Protection of National Parks were highlighted. Recommendations included national threat assessments, interagency coordination mechanisms, and enhanced collaboration with forest communities.
The meeting called for regional mixed brigades and improved information sharing. The program aimed to create a community of practitioners dedicated to countering illegal logging and enhancing citizen security.

 

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February 2, 2023
Central African States Fail to Honor Timber Export Ban

Officials say most member states in the Central African Economic and Monetary Community, CEMAC, have failed to honor a ban on raw timber exports that was enacted last year to conserve forests and create jobs by locally processing wood.

The six member countries of the Central African bloc agreed to ban raw timber exports starting in January 2022. The ban is aimed partially at combating climate change by protecting forests from excessive logging.

 

However, an online meeting of CEMAC forestry and finance ministers Thursday found that only Gabon and the Republic of Congo have suspended the timber exports to China and other Asian countries. Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad and Equatorial Guinea have not.

 

The deadline for implementing the ban was initially pushed back to January 2023 to give the CEMAC countries more time to comply. Motaze suggested the bloc push back the deadline again to 2025 so countries have more time to invest in wood processing equipment and in training workers.

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November 2, 2022
Central Africa: Log export ban postponed indefinitely

In Central Africa, the ban on the export of logs will no longer take effect from 1 January 2022. The entry into force of this measure has been postponed to an unspecified date. This was the outcome of the 38th ordinary session of the Council of Ministers of the Economic Union of Central Africa (UEAC), which ended on 28 October 2022 in Yaoundé, Cameroon.

This is a retropalent for the countries of the Economic Union of Central Africa (UEAC). The entry into force of the ban on timber exports in the form of logs, which was set for 1 January 2023, has been postponed to a date yet to be determined.

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June 9, 2022
Cemac: States are preparing for the ban on the export of logs, supposed to come into force from January 2023

In view of the entry into force, from January 1 2023, of the measure prohibiting the export of logs in the six CEMAC countries (Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Chad, CAR and Equatorial Guinea), a workshop devoted to the validation of the regional guidelines for taxation and forest certification is currently being held in Libreville.

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Key Resources
Click here for a collection of Forest Trends publications related to IDAT Risk, including the full set of Timber Legality Risk Country Dashboards.
Methodology
Click here to download the Methodology which includes information on data sources, the methodology used to create risk indicators, and a glossary of key terms.
Data Tools

Click here to access the Global Illegal Logging and Associated Trade (ILAT) Risk assessment tool and to download the Forest Trends User Guide describing the functionality of the ILAT Risk Data Tool.

Click here to access the Cattle Data Tool.

Export Restrictions
Click here to download a database of forest policy export restrictions.