People’s Voices on the Sustainable Forest Reform in the Democratic Republic of Congo

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Filomena Amaral
João Simão

Abstract

Since the early 2000s, the Democratic Republic of Congo has been conducting a reform of its forestry sector with the publication of The Forest Code (2002). The implementation of this law, which aims to assure the participation of all stakeholders, has been evolving slowly since then. The present research aims to evaluate the knowledge local communities and indigenous people detain over the ongoing reform, and the expectations they created when negotiations over the implementation of industrial harvesting activities in their traditional territories began. By interviewing local people, we came to understand that insufficient knowledge regarding the law gathers with a lack of concern towards ecological or environmental matters and with the need of seeing basic needs satisfied; all this in a context in which different stakeholders’ responsibilities and negotiational terms are often misunderstood.

Article Details

How to Cite
Amaral, F., & Simão, J. (2021). People’s Voices on the Sustainable Forest Reform in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Modern Africa: Politics, History and Society, 9(1), 59–89. https://doi.org/10.26806/modafr.v9i1.299
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Articles
Author Biographies

Filomena Amaral, Universidade Aberta

She is a PhD student in African Studies specialising in tropical forests, sustainability and social responsibility. During her work in the Congo, she developed activities in the environmental and social areas, including negotiations with various stakeholders, trade unions, universities and research institutes, local, regional and national public administration and traditional authorities. She also worked on project development and audits. E-mail: filomenacapelacorreia@hotmail.com

João Simão, Universidade Aberta, Portugal and CAPP – Centre for Public Administration and Public Policies, ISCSP, Universidade de Lisboa

He is Associate Professor in the Department of Social Sciences and Management at the Universidade Aberta (Lisbon, Portugal), and senior researcher at the Center for Public Administration and Public Policies. His research topics are sustainable development (public policies and inner changes) and corporate social responsibility in the global arena, topics on which he regularly publishes. E-mail: joao.simao@uab.pt