05.02.2019. With around 120 million people critically depending on the Congo Basin forests for their livelihood, it is baffling how the narrative on tropical forests belongs to voices from the Northern Hemisphere, mostly. With ‘Central African Forests Forever’, Dutch author Meindert Brouwer has finally bridged the gap.
The book presents a large number of interviews with African experts, personally collected by Meindert Brouwer over many months of intensive travel across several Congo Basin countries, including Cameroon, the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
As the author revealed to ‘Mongabay’ in an interview published on 23 January 2019: ‘What I have to stress is that this is not a book by a white man about Africa. I went to people from Central Africa, and I asked them, “What do you think needs to be done?” This is a book by Africans for Africans and for the world.’
For the first time, the solutions to a number of challenges facing the Congo Basin forests (less known to the general public than the Amazon) are presented by African policy-makers, scientists, researchers, employees, women rights’ activists and ecologists along with heads of villages.
One message clearly stands out: tropical forests are about the people and yes, giving value to the forest is one of the best ways to protect it, whilst providing for the people.
Interholco is proud to have opened its production site in the Republic of Congo to Meindert Brouwer, making it possible for him to interview the local residents and witness what sustainable forest management really looks like, in practice (also in the book, starting on p. 120).
Read the interview on Mongabay: https://news.mongabay.com/2019/01/saving-the-forests-of-the-congo-basin-qa-with-author-meindert-brouwer/
Discover ‘Central African Forests Forever’ (available in English and French): https://www.centralafricanforests.org/
About INTERHOLCO
Since 1962, INTERHOLCO is serving an international clientele with high-quality hardwood – Made in Africa.
With annual sales of about EUR 65 Mio., the Swiss-based INTERHOLCO is one of the leading international suppliers of sustainable hardwood, from sourcing and processing to high quality hardwood products: logs, lumber, laminated scantlings and more. In addition to three processing sawmills, large kiln facilities, a lamination and planing mill, INTERHOLCO manages an FSC-certified 1.1 million ha forest concession in the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville), employing a diverse dedicated global workforce of about 1’000 people. INTERHOLCO serves over 50 countries world-wide, from importers to industrial end-users.
INTERHOLCO is committed to making sustainably harvested timber from Africa the norm, as a renewable material that improves people’s livelihoods in the region and protects the forest and its precious wildlife. INTERHOLCO supports the Fair&Precious initiative in its goal to increase market recognition of sustainable hardwood from Africa based on technical, environmental and sustainability considerations.
Communications contact INTERHOLCO
Tullia Baldassarri Höger von Högersthal
INTERHOLCO AG, Schutzengelstr. 36, 6340 Baar, Switzerland
Tel.: +41 (0)41 767 03 82
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