Helveta’s online timber tracking system is being introduced in the Central African Republic (CAR) .
The UK company’s CI World technology will be piloted for nine months at the Forestiere de Batalimo (IFB) concession in the country to track logs from harvest site to point of export.
It is working on the project with the accreditation body Bureau Veritas, which runs an “origine legale due bois” timber legality certification programme in the country and a tax verification system for the CAR government to ensure collection of export tax on wood products,
“By working with Helveta, we will be able to establish better production reports and link them to export processes, providing customers with better visibility for our supply chain,” said IFB managing director Philippe Gaden.
Helveta said that the link its system will create between export monitoring and forestry operations is also critical to establishing the kind of timber traceability framework demanded under the EU’s Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade initiative. This involves the establishment of voluntary partnership agreements (VPAs) with producer countries to help them improve forest management and, consequenetly, access the European timber market. CAR is currently in VPA negotiations.
