18.09.2026
Meeting on 11 September 2026, the ATIBT Forest and Industry Commission focused its discussions on three strategic topics: CITES implementation in the Congo Basin, the evolution of forest management models, and the promotion of lesser-known and used timber species. This work can help the sector better anticipate regulatory developments, strengthen its scientific foundations and create new market opportunities.
CITES Congo Basin: strengthening scientific consistency
The preparation of non-detriment findings (NDFs) is a priority in producer countries. The discussions highlighted the need for national NDFs based on harmonised scientific parameters and officially validated by administrations and scientific authorities. Harmonisation covers growth increments, mortality and recruitment rates and recovery-rate formulas.
In Gabon, a new NDF for padouk was published on 10 September 2026. In the Republic of the Congo, the objective is to have national NDFs in place from 2027. These will draw on concession data but be validated and published by the competent authorities. A service note from the Ministry of the Forest Economy, reorganising the management authority and the scientific authority, has been signed. A technical meeting in Brazzaville will initiate the drafting of a first national document, and CIB is preparing a technical note on increments and recovery-rate calculation for all members. In the Central African Republic, two national NDFs are currently being finalised through close cooperation between the administration, the scientific authority and private companies.
Members also flagged capacity-building needs: training on NDFs, training for log graders, and support for administrations and customs services in identifying timber species, in particular CITES-listed species.
Import permits in the European Union remain a difficulty: delays and administrative uncertainty weaken commercial relationships and could lead some operators to withdraw CITES-listed species, irrespective of the actual state of the resource. ATIBT continues to document processing times, differences between Member States, the economic consequences and any species abandoned as a result.
Forest management: preparing second-generation management plans
The first forest management plans in the Congo Basin are now between 20 and 30 years old, and some concessions are approaching the end of their first rotation. For the first time, initial forecasts can be compared with actual implementation, changes in the resource, harvesting levels and market developments. Several projects should feed into this work: a future FFEM project expected in late 2026 or early 2027, projects under preparation in Gabon and Cameroon, and the OFAC-CE project.
Michael Kiamfu, from ERAIFT, FRMi and CIRAD, presented the protocol for a study assessing forest management in Central Africa. Drawing on a database of more than 150 forest management plans, the study will compare national standards, analyse gaps between planning and implementation, and examine how climate, environmental and social issues have gradually been incorporated. Each data point is traced and gaps coded as “missing” rather than as an absence of action; the Central African Republic has been identified as a priority field site. Expected outputs include a comparative matrix of national standards, an analysis of gaps between planning and implementation, a reusable methodological grid and recommendations for second-generation plans.
Member companies are invited to contribute by sharing annual operating plans, production data, implementation records and information on wildlife, social and environmental measures, so that the sample is not limited to certified concessions.
The Commission also examined the scientific manuscript Conservation-First Forestry Concessions, which stems from the Montpellier workshop and proposes, among other measures, rotations of up to 60 years, a sharp reduction in harvesting levels and a financial and institutional arrangement in which a funder would play a significant role in managing forest areas. While acknowledging the value of the debate, members pointed to an insufficiently documented economic model, the extrapolation of work from other tropical regions, and the operational realities of the Congo Basin: excessively reducing the viability of concessions could, paradoxically, diminish the value attached to keeping the forest standing and increase pressure to convert it to other land uses.
The recovery rate also has limits as a sole indicator of sustainability: it measures only the reconstitution of a species’ merchantable stock between two rotations, not the ecological recovery of the forest, population structure or the reproductive capacity of the species. Complementary indicators should therefore be developed, covering population structures, fruiting diameters, the retention of seed trees and the ecological functions of forests.
Lesser-known and used timber species: developing practical applications
As part of the Tropical Timber Trade Facility project (TTT), a project funded by the German Government, a methodology has been developed to assess the potential of a timber species across five dimensions: resource availability, technical properties, market expectations, the value chain and commercial positioning. It has been tested on two species from certified Congo Basin concessions: manilkara, proposed by Rougier Mokabi, and eveuss, proposed by Pallisco-CIFM. A summary of the results is available online.
A comparison tool has also been developed to identify alternatives to the most widely traded timbers. It compares 306 tropical and temperate species using the properties and durability recorded in CIRAD’s Tropix datasheets, and provides an initial screening only: cost, machinability and availability are not taken into account.
ATIBT is launching a call for expressions of interest to establish a community dedicated to these species. Producers, importers, processors, architects, designers, distributors and craftspeople are invited to work together on practical applications (furniture, objects, architectural components, fittings, prototypes and small production runs) and to document sourcing and processing conditions so that the solutions developed can be reproduced.
For further information about this initiative, please contact Solène Gasnier Defaux, TTT Project Coordinator: solene.gasnier-defaux@atibt.org.
The next meeting of the Forest and Industry Commission will take place on 11 December 2026.
