Description

The project aims to improve the transparency of the artisanal timber mining sector for export. It does this through data collection and analysis of discrepancies between data (volume and cash) reported to state services and actual data found by the Management Committee of the Kasindi Wood Park. These analyses help to quantify the tax gaps representative of the Democratic Republic of Congo's public treasury shortfall for exported timber, and to form a basis for an open dialogue with the Ministere de l'Environnement et du Developpement Durable on this issue, which also concerns other Congolese borders.

The project contributes to the objectives of the Formation, Research and Environment in Tshopo and New Landscape of Congo projects carried out by CIFOR in Tshopo province. These include actions in the softwood lumber sector. Indeed, some of the timber hand-crafted in this province transits eastwards to be exported to Uganda via the Kasindi exit post.