It has been reported that in Gabon all kevazingo timber exports must pass through either the special zone (GSEZ) or from SNBG facilities and only if the shipment has the appropriate bar-code allowing tracking from the forest to the mill and to container stuffing.
Kevazingo, which is better known as bubinga or guibourtia, is a reddish type of wood found in West Africa. Credit: Atlas Obscura
Kevazingo, which is better known as bubinga or guibourtia, is a reddish type of wood found in West Africa. Some trees in Gabon are more than 500 years old and they can be considered sacred by local people.
No transport of kevazingo is permitted unless the consignment has been inspected and the bar-code verified. On inspection and hammer stamp of the sawnwood the Minister authorises transportation. Only further processed kevazingo timber can be exported but there is concern that demand for kevazingo furniture parts or assembled furniture is not strong.
There have been reports of mills producing thick, planed and polished thick kevazingo 3-4 m length slabs and exporting these as desk-tops. Companies are still having large stocks of harvested kevazingo logs in their concession areas which can only be sold to SNBG or mills in the GSEZ.
It has been reported that the Ministry of Forests is planning to issue regulated price for kevazingo. Comments on Congo Basin certification ATIBT has released a report dealing with comments received from stakeholders during public consultations on the forest management certification standard of the PAFC Gongo Basin Scheme. The ATIBT says, “The development process of the PAFC CB forest certification standard sparked enthusiasm among forest management stakeholders who provided more than 300 comments. Comments from PC1 mainly focused on definitions, social aspects, logging operations, wildlife management aspects, environmental impact studies aspects, carbon stocks and greenhouse gas emissions.”
