Gabon's new move to tackle the chaos in the timber industry: Every log will be tracked by GPS throughout its journey.

Maurice Ntossui Allogo, the Minister of Water and Forests of Gabon, recently announced at a government briefing that Gabon is embarking on the construction of a national wood traceability data center, aiming to digitally track every log from its GPS marking in the forest to the export stage. 

It is reported that the new system will promote the cross-departmental digital integration and centralized management of forestry data, connect the data links between the water conservancy and forestry departments as well as the customs, and unify the currently independently operated records. Before the felling of logs, GPS coordinates will be assigned, and all the transfer links will be included in the tracking scope - covering the calculation of felling volume and subsequent flow monitoring until the logs are collected at the port for shipment.

Data from the water conservancy and forestry departments show that in 2024, 1.5 million cubic meters of logs generated over 42 billion CFA francs (approximately 73.5 million US dollars) in revenue. However, the following year, the volume of logs circulating through the same system doubled compared to the previous year, but the revenue significantly shrank. The forestry department of Gabon admitted that it could not explain this data deviation, indicating a fundamental loophole in industry supervision. 

Wood is the second largest export commodity of Gabon, after oil and manganese ore, accounting for about 9% of export earnings. The industry has long been plagued by illegal logging and systemic corruption. In 2019, the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) released a four-year special investigation report, revealing how illegally logged wood from Gabon infiltrated the US market through fraudulent trade channels. 

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