Vast tracts of rainforest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a country without a truly functioning government, have been acquired by logging companies in exchange for meaningless gifts to local tribal chiefs valued from £50 to £10,000. The gifts include bags of salt, machetes and hoes. They have also included as yet unrealised promises to build schools or clinics. The areas of forest that have been acquired in this way include teak trees valued at around £4,000 each! It is clear that the tribal authorities were not informed of the value of the concessions by the Western companies.
In what amounts to more bad news for beleaguered World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz theses contracts these signed after a World Bank moratorium on logging in the Congo was imposed. There is little or no evidence that the Bank has taken measures to ensure the moratorium's validity.
According to a spokesman for Greenpeace:
In what amounts to more bad news for beleaguered World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz theses contracts these signed after a World Bank moratorium on logging in the Congo was imposed. There is little or no evidence that the Bank has taken measures to ensure the moratorium's validity.
According to a spokesman for Greenpeace:
"Most of the companies have benefited from the World Bank's failure to ensure that the moratorium it negotiated with the transitional Congo DRC government has been enforced."
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