Written question asked by Jeremy Corbyn (Labour) on Thursday, 5 June 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 9 June 2008. It was answered by Baroness Merron (Labour) on Thursday, 12 June 2008 on behalf of the Department for International Development.

Democratic Republic of Congo: Forests

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what his policy is on extension of the moratorium on issuing new logging titles in the Democratic Republic of Congo until proper land-use planning is in place.

Answer: In 2007 the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) government, donor partners and a large part of DRC and international civil society adopted the Priority Agenda for the DRC's forests. The UK Government agree with all the parties to the Priority Agenda that forest land-use planning involving local people is essential for avoiding future conflicts in forest areas. We also agree that the moratorium should not be lifted until a national plan for granting new concessions has been developed involving the DRC government, NGOs, private companies and local people. The recent establishment of a national committee to agree a standard methodology for forest land-use zoning is an encouraging sign that the rights of forest-dependent people are being taken seriously. This methodology should be agreed by all relevant parties and applied successfully before new logging titles can be issued.

Secondary information