Feature story - November 23, 2004
The forests of the Congo Basin are second in size only to the Amazon rainforest and are the most biodiverse places in Africa. The forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) alone are home to over 1,000 species of birds and more than 400 species of mammals, many of which are found nowhere else on earth.
Rainforest logging in Cameroon
These forests are critical to the survival of three of humankind's closest animal relatives: the gorilla, the chimpanzee and the bonobo. Approximately 12 million forest-dwelling people, including the semi-nomadic Baka pygmies, depend directly on the forest for shelter, medicine, food and for their cultural and spiritual survival.
But the Congo Basin's natural resources are quickly being exploited, and many of its countries are rife with illegal logging. Today, the single greatest threat to the Congo Basin's forests is large-scale industrial logging. Timber production has increased by more than half since the mid 1990s. The forces that are destroying the forests of the Congo Basin are also accelerating the Great Apes towards extinction.
Democratic Republic of Congo
The forests of the DRC are vital to protecting what's left of the Congo Basin. Due to the conflict and security situation in the DRC, huge tracts of forests are still intact. But the World Bank is proposing to open 60 million hectares to logging. Given the devastating impact of logging in other parts of Africa, this plan could be catastrophic.
In May 2002, the Congolese government declared a moratorium on the allocation of new logging operations. Unfortunately, between May 2002 and May 2003, logging concessions covering more than 6 million hectares have been allocated in violation of this moratorium. These developments undermine all attempts to reform the forestry sector.
The World Bank predicts that the DRC could become the largest African hardwood exporter within the next 10 years. Experience from other countries in the Congo Basin, such as Cameroon, shows that it is extremely difficult to control the multiple negative impacts of logging such as the illegal bushmeat trade, illegal timber trade and social conflicts. Even when multilateral agencies such as the World Bank put serious conditions in place for the forestry sector, they often turn a blind eye when implementation proves to be poor.
Instead of allocating new timber concessions, the Government of Congo and the international community should support the Global Reform of the DRC, which includes, as key components, cleaning up the timber industry and finding viable alternatives to industrial logging.