Mozambique to adopt new timber export model

The model for exporting wood currently in force in Mozambique will be changed because it is deemed injurious to the interests of the state and operators in the sector, the minister of Land, Environment and Rural Development stated at a meeting in Maputo.

Minister Celso Correia said that under the new model an entity will be created able to regulate timber exports in order to guarantee their sustainable management, with plans for discussion and eventual approval of the new mechanism to be extended for three months until 1 June, the period when tree-felling is prohibited.

“This is a decision meant to be transitory until we have a consolidated forestry industry,” the minister said, adding that he was convinced the new model would enable the state’s tax revenue from forest exploitation to increase from the current US$20 million to US$140 million.

Correia also plans to eliminate forestry exploitation on a simple licence basis to next create a complete value chain, whose package will include reforestation. The aim is to achieve a completely different forestry sector in the next two years.

If the new model is not adopted, Mozambique in upcoming years risks becoming like Tanzania, where trees are no longer felled, and Madagascar, where one of the most commercially sought species has disappeared.

The proposals by the minister of Land, Environment and Rural Development were presented during the third National meeting of Forestry Logging Operators, reports AIM news agency.

Source: Macauhub