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The Democratic Republic of Congo government has cancelled nearly 60% of timber contracts in the world's second-largest tropical rainforest.
It follows a six-month review of 156 logging deals aimed at stamping out corruption in the sector and enforcing legal and environmental standards.
At the end of the World Bank-backed process, government ministers found that only 65 timber deals were viable.
New contracts will be issued for 90,000 sq km (35,000 square miles) of forest.
Environment Minister Jose Endundo told a news conference in the capital Kinshasa that the other agreements would be cancelled.
"I will proceed within the next 48 hours to notify those applicants having received an unfavourable recommendation from the inter-ministerial commission through decrees cancelling their respective conventions," he was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.
"Upon notification of the cancellation decision, the operator must ...