Forest management

Tropical Bois’ forest department is one of the most considerable in Ivory Coast: it is equipped with 17 skidders, 23 logging trucks, 2 low-bed trucks, 25 other vehicles (pickups and small trucks) for support and assistance.

Today Tropical Bois logs a total of approximately 425,000 hectares of concessions, of which 255,000 are self-owned and 170,000 are managed on behalf of other non-industrial owners.

Tropical Bois also cooperates with other smaller sawmills for timber exchanging and technical assistance.

These sawmills manage a total of 200,000 additional hectares.

Tropical Bois' forest department employs about 150 workers, all from rural areas. 

Despite the considerable fixed costs of annual taxes and fees due on concessions, since 1995 (the year when the forest concessions were attributed to woodworking industries), Tropical Bois has kept the following logging procedures, in order to minimize the impact on the forest and to allow a sustainable maintenance of the same:

- TB logs less than 50% of the annual volume allowances on its concessions, in order to allow the natural growth of the forest to occur as much as possible

- for each species, TB adopts a minimum diameter limit higher than the one allowed by the forest regulations, so that the younger trees left in place can keep growing and the larger fallen trees give a better yield.

Companies adopting less stringent policies, who log their entire volume quota allowed by law (and at times even more), as well as cutting small diameter trees, certainly have lower costs per cubic meter of logs.

However, in doing so, these companies are irreparably damaging the valuable forest resources of the Country.

Tropical Bois’ forestry policy, along with particular care in reforestation, currently constitute the best achievable standards for a lasting management of forest concessions in Ivory Coast, as well as the maximum transparency for the purpose of the traceability of the wood.