Logging in Northern Congo
Industrial logging is now the most prominent land use activity in northern Congo, with most of the forest divided up into forestry concessions. Prior to logging, the majority of these concessions were old growth primary forest, which had not been commercially exploited and had no road access. Most of these areas have only been allocated to logging companies since the 1990s with a boom expansion in early 2000s.
The formerly isolated Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park in northern Congo is now almost completely surrounded by logging concessions. The Mokabi concession to the north is exploited by the Rougier company, and has been active since 2002; the Loundougou concession to the east is operated by Congolaise Industrielle des Bois, and has been active for a similar length of time. To the south, there are the Kabo and Pokola forestry concessions while the Toukoulaka concession is sandwiched in between Kabo, Pokola and Loundougou. Kabo, Pokola, and Toukoulaka are also operated by CIB.
Large-scale industrial logging in Northern Congo first began in 1960, in the present day Kabo & Pokola concessions. The first forestry companies arrived in the late 1940s, with the Bois-Sangha company arriving in 1955 to operate the Kabo concession. At the same time the Société Forestière de la Sangha operated the Pokola concession, before the company was purchased in 1968 by CIB. CIB acquired the rights to the Kabo concession when the Société Nouvelle des Bois de la Sangha went bankrupt in 1994, before adding the Loundougou concession in 1997.