Wijma Douala SARL, the Cameroon subsidiary of Koninklijke Houthandel G Wijma & Zonen BV in Kampen, the Netherlands, has been awarded Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification for one of its forest concessions in Cameroon.
Maarten Wijma, chief executive officer of the Wijma Group, said : “Obtaining this certificate is an important milestone for our company.”
Wijma Douala manages three forest concessions in Cameroon with a total area of 190,000ha and the company is now working on gaining FSC certification for its other two forest concessions.
The company’s environmental co-ordinator Mark Diepstraten said: “This certificate proves that FSC certification or responsible forest management in West Africa is possible.”
Mr Wijma said that all the company’s employees in Cameroon made the certification happen. He added: “They did a great job. We anticipate that the first FSC certified timber, which will include ekki from our own concession, will be introduced on the European market at the beginning of next year – an introduction that will not go unnoticed.”
Wijma was helped to gain its certirication by Holland based forestry consultancy firm, FORM International. Director Paul Hol said: “The process was very difficult because there was no reference project in Central Africa available. We worked with Wijma from scratch because everything was new.”
In September FORM and the Tropical Forest Foundation helped Indonesian company Erna Djuliawatti obtain FSC certification for its 200,000ha concession in Kalimantan.
