Gabon Junta Allows Regulated Logging Of Rare Kevazingo Tree

LIBREVILLE (Reuters) - Gabon's junta has relaxed rules covering the rare kevazingo tree, allowing logging under certain conditions of a hardwood species that can take 500 years to grow to its full height of 40 metres (130 feet).

There is high demand in Asia for kevazingo wood, which is used to make chic tables and speciality guitars, among other things.

Gabon's previous government outlawed kevazingo cutting in 2018 due to trafficking. But a loophole permitted sales and exports of fallen trees left on the ground for at least six months, or seized from illegal loggers.

Exactly a year after the military seized power, the council of ministers on Saturday approved a decree allowing kevazingo to be logged in "sustainably managed concessions" tracked with a geo-referencing system.

A CITES permit regulating international trade in wild animals and plants will be required to export finished products.

"By promoting local processing, the decree stimulates the economic development of forest regions and creates new employment opportunities," the ministers said in a statement.

Forestry is a major industry in Gabon, where there are around 27 million hectares of forest cover, according to the United Nations, making it one of the world's most forested countries.

The last elected president, Ali Bongo, cast himself as an environmental crusader, banning raw wood exports and expanding protected zones after he succeeded his father in 2009 - continuing a family dynasty that exceeded five decades.

But Gabon remained a hub for poachers, illegal logging and illicit wildlife trade despite the efforts.

In 2019, Bongo fired his vice president and his forests minister after hundreds of containers of illegally logged kevazingo wood that had been seized went missing.

(Reporting by Gerauds Wilfried Obangome; Writing by Sofia Christensen; Editing by Mark Potter)