Certification Withdrawn

For many years, the timber company Leroy Gabon (a subsidiary of the French company Isoroy, owned by the German company Glunz AG since 1992) has had permission to log in a vast area of primary forest in and around the Lopé Reserve in Gabon (read also our article on Gabon).
In October 1996, the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) granted Leroy Gabon a certification for their scheduled logging in the Lopé Reserve. This certification approves the sustainable and careful management of the forest.
Organizations which are concerned about the protection of the rain forests strongly complained about this certification and questioned the credibility of the certifier SGS which had assessed the logging operations of Leroy Gabon. Detailed scientific investigations had shown before that Isoroy did not manage the forest in Gabon sustainably and that the requirements for a certification according to the FCS principles were not fulfilled. In September 1997, the situation was reviewed again by the FSC; they came to the conclusion that Leroy did not qualify for the certification and that it should immediately be withdrawn. FSC stated that SGS had made a mistake. To prevent this from happening again, FSC also decided to suspend any certification of logging in primary forests for 6 months.
This does not mean that Leroy will stop their activities in this area. They just will not do it with a certification. Indeed, there are reports of former Isoroy managers who say that the company has completely given up the idea of having their timber certified because they would not get enough profit from their activities if they had to accept restrictions. Due to financial problems, Isoroy now apparently now no longer plans to manage their concessions in Gabon sustainably, but intends to extract as much money as possible as quickly as possible - also in the Lopé Reserve.

Angela Meder

Dr. Angela Meder observed the behaviour and development of captive lowland gorillas for 10 years. A major aim of her various studies was the improvement of the management, rearing and housing of gorillas in zoos. Today she works as a book editor. Since 1992 she has been part of the Board of Directors of Berggorilla & Regenwald Direkthilfe.

Western gorilla overview

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