Fight against timber trafficking in Casamance: Ades welcomes the decision of Macky Sall

In a statement carried by Aps, the Alliance of Ecologists of Senegal (Ades) welcomes the commitment made by the President of the Republic to end the trafficking of timber in Casamance, in southern Senegal. « A courageous and necessary decision » of the Head of State, because of the importance of forests for the preservation of the environment, for example.

« We welcome a courageous and necessary decision. The Casamance forest is the last large wooded area of Senegal, the last forest bastion of our country. Forests play three essential functions, ecologically, socially and economically, notes this party of ecological obedience, before deploring that in Senegal, « the looting » of forest resources « has become an object of deep amazement.

« Since 2010, notes the Ades, our country has lost more than 1 million trees because of illegal timber trafficking, and no less than 5,000 containers full of wood cross our border each year, or more than 40,000 hectares devastated.

The Alliance of Ecologists of Senegal urges the population to commit to the State and to work with the public authorities to put an end to the traffic of wood.

As a reminder, it was during the ceremony marking the 62nd anniversary of Senegal’s accession to national sovereignty, that Macky Sall warned that he will no longer accept that a single tree is cut down in Casamance to be exported.

« The defense of our forests is one of the main missions underway to defend the forest of Casamance. My instructions have been very clear: we can no longer accept that a single tree is cut down in Casamance to be exported abroad, » he insisted, according to the Senegalese News Agency (Aps).