Timber Trade in Africa’s Great Lakes: The Road From Beni, DRC to Kampala, Uganda

The report examines the trade of tropical timber from the eastern DRC through Uganda to regional and international markets. It finds that approximately 80% of timber leaving the eastern DRC enters Uganda, where it is either consumed locally or transited to Kenya and South Sudan. The trade is characterized by high levels of informality, significant revenue loss for the DRC, and a profit structure that heavily favors middlemen and politically connected traders over primary producers and transporters. While international markets are increasingly regulated by frameworks like EU FLEGT and the US Lacey Act, regional trade remains largely unregulated due to timber shortages in East Africa. The report highlights the role of the Northern Transit Corridor in facilitating these flows and suggests that bottom-up regional cooperation, similar to the Albertine Rift Strategic Planning Process, could improve sustainability and governance.

• The vast majority of tropical timber exported from the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) flows through Uganda, with approximately 80% of this timber crossing the border into Uganda.
• The regional timber trade is significantly larger in volume than the international trade, but it is characterized by small-scale, informal operations and faces less regulatory pressure from East African demand-side actors compared to European or US markets.
• Uganda acts as both a primary market and a transit hub; while it absorbs a portion of the timber, a significant amount is transited to Kenya, which is identified as the largest regional consumer of Congolese timber.
• The profit distribution in the timber chain is highly inequitable, with middlemen and a small group of traders capturing the most value, while timber cutters and truck drivers bear the majority of the risk.
• International regulatory frameworks such as the EU-supported Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) and the US Lacey Act are increasing pressure for 'chain of custody' transparency, though their impact on informal regional trade is limited.
• Infrastructure improvements along the Northern Transit Corridor, while promoting economic integration, may inadvertently increase the risk of deforestation by making Congolese forests more accessible.
• The Albertine Rift Strategic Planning Process serves as a successful model of bottom-up, multi-stakeholder regional cooperation on conservation that could be adapted for the timber sector.

APA

Chevallier, R., & du Preez, M.-L. (2012). Timber Trade in Africa’s Great Lakes: The Road From Beni, DRC to Kampala, Uganda. South African Institute of International Affairs. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Research-Report-11.pdf

Chicago

Chevallier, Romy, and Mari-Lise du Preez. Timber Trade in Africa’s Great Lakes: The Road From Beni, DRC to Kampala, Uganda. South African Institute of International Affairs, 2012. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Research-Report-11.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Chevallier |first1=Romy |last2=du Preez |first2=Mari-Lise |title=Timber Trade in Africa’s Great Lakes: The Road From Beni, DRC to Kampala, Uganda |publisher=South African Institute of International Affairs |date=July 2012 |url=https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Research-Report-11.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{chevallier2012timber, author = {Chevallier, Romy and du Preez, Mari-Lise}, title = {{Timber Trade in Africa’s Great Lakes: The Road From Beni, DRC to Kampala, Uganda}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2012}, month = jul, url = {https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Research-Report-11.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }