.KAPEYA

By STANSLOUS NGOSA –

THE illegal cutting of the Mukula tree has continued, depriving the country of the much-needed revenue, besides degrading the environment.
This is because little attention has been paid to monitoring how the timber industry has been operating and how the country’s natural resources have exited Zambia’s border lines.
The recent interception of 120 tonnes of Mukula logs in Mpika in Muchinga Province, which was the largest single seizure in the last few weeks, shows the gravity of the matter.
But the question being asked is why suddenly the Mukula tree is making news headlines?
The tree, whose scientific name is Pterocarpus chrysothrix, is believed to be most valuable due to the huge properties it has.
The popularity of the tree lies in the fact that it has three usable layers, while other trees only have a heart or inner layer.
According to Lands, Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Minister Mwansa Kapeya, the Mukula tree’s heart wood or inner brown part is used for making gun butts.
The second layer is used for making furniture, while the outer part is used for medicinal purposes.
The tree, which takes more than 90 years to grow, is mainly found in mountainous parts of the country, apart from the Copperbelt, North-Western and Western provinces.
It is in high demand among the international business community who use it in the production of gun butts and other artifacts.
The tree’s sudden rise in demand has been triggered after the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi and Mozambique intensified security around this tree species.
Mr Kapeya, however, recently admitted that the illegal logging had continued because of a lack of clarity in legislation that protected Zambia’s forests.
Zambia’s Forests Act of 1973 states that one cannot harvest major forest products like trees without a licence, but the act allows local communities to harvest forest produce for domestic use and not for export.
The loophole is apparently being exploited as local communities are contracted to cut the trees by timber dealers who supply international consumers.
The local people contracted to cut the trees by the foreigners and the big shorts are being paid between K25 and K40 per log, a lucrative business indeed.
The Forest Act number 39 of 1973 CAP 199 seems lax as it allows harvesting any tree apart from species that bear fruits and those involved in the conservation of water near or around the water table.
Against such a liberal law, people freely harvest any species, even endangered ones, because the law apparently allows this.
Initially, the Mukula tree was a small business but after discovering demand for the species, the Government looked at the legislation because the current one is not adequate.
The issuance of the harvesting licence is also questionable because of the continued cases of illegal cutting of the Mukula, which are reported every other day.
Lack of man power after the forest rangers who were commonly known as Bakapenda Mabula were retrenched has contributed to the escalating problem in the industry.
It is, however, believed that the Forestry Bill has been prepared but it is not established when it would be presented to Parliament.
The Government is considering re-introducing the forest rangers, but the process is rather taking too long, looking at the rampant cutting down of the Mukula tree.