OXFORD, England, February 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Helveta Ltd., the leading provider of asset management and supply chain monitoring technology for the forest sector, has announced an exclusive 5 year supply agreement with Societe Generale de Surveillance S.A. (SGS), to supply the Ministry of Environment, Conservation of Nature and Tourism (MECNT) for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with the software technology platform and support services to manage the entire supply chain of wood and wood products in the largest tropical forest in Africa.
The project will utilise Helveta's CI World(TM) technology to map, record inventory, and track and trace wood produced from the Congolese forestry sector, from the standing tree in the forest, through wood processing plants, and finally to the nation's export gates and local wholesale markets. CI World will be the software engine of the forest management platform, which through SGS turnkey project management will afford the MECNT visibility and control for the DRC's national timber production. The project will strengthen timber supply chain control and revenue collection from the Congolese timber sector.
The DRC is home to the world's second largest tropical rainforest, representing 80% of Africa's rainforest cover. At more than 130 million hectares, these forests are disappearing at a rate of 0.6% per year.* The DRC's valuable tropical forests are an essential source of revenue for a nation still recovering from years of civil war. As is the case in many tropical timber producing nations, illegal logging is a significant threat to the sustainable development of the sector as well as to the hard currency revenues critical to the DRC's economic recovery. The government of the DRC, through the MECNT, is moving to improve its forest management activities. The national forest management project will ensure that the sector develops with a robust timber legality assurance system and will equip the DRC to meet the requirements of international agreements, such as the EU's Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (FLEGT), to prevent illegal logging and the associated trade in illegal timber products.
Helveta Chief Executive Officer, Patrick Newton, commented: "We are pleased to be working with SGS and the MECNT to further expand our footprint across Africa. This project in DRC represents the eighth African nation to deploy Helveta technology and will help the DRC improve its forest sector management activities by ensuring legal compliance in timber production. More importantly, it will allow our clients to demonstrate CI World's merits as a 'fit-for-purpose' software platform providing legality assurance support for countries engaged in or about to engage in the VPA process."
About Helveta
Helveta was incorporated in 2004 and is the developer of the CI World(TM) software platform. CI World is a unique technology providing fully auditable traceability and chain of custody control for extended supply chains in the Timber and Food production sectors. CI World and its components - TracElite(TM) and CI Earth(TM) - have won a number of awards as innovative technologies for the timber sector. Helveta is privately held.
http://www.helveta.com*
http://www.afdb.org/en/topics-sectors/initiatives-partnerships/congo-ba sin-forest-fund/
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For further information, please contact: Louise Richardson, Ranieri Communications. Tel: +44-1296-394-614;
louise@raniericoms.comFor further information, please contact: Louise Richardson, Ranieri Communications, Tel: +44-1296-394-614;
louise@raniericoms.com
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