Is it too Late for the Congo Rainforest?
Home to the second largest rainforest in the world, the Congo Basin plays an extremely important role in climate regulation and biodiversity conservation in Africa. However, the rainforest is quickly diminishing, and current trends of deforestation convey an uneasy future for the Congo Rainforest. If these trends continue the way they are projected, nearly all the primary rainforest may be gone by the end of the 21st century.
A study conducted by Alexandra Tyukavina and her colleagues¹ from 2000 to 2014 examined satellite data to identify the primary driving factors of deforestation in the Congo Basin. During this study, the rainforest diminished by over 165,000 square kilometers (over 100,000 square miles). To put this number into perspective, in 15 years the Congo Rainforest had lost an area of forest that is larger than the state of Colorado.
The Congo Basin’s rainforest region is shared by six countries: Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Gabon, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, and the Republic of Congo. Each country has varied political, economic, geographic, and demographic conditions that contribute to different driving factors of deforestation.
The study found that small-scale agricultural clearing for subsistence farming is the largest driver of deforestation in the Congo Basin, accounting for 84% of the forest destruction during the study. The clearings were mostly made by individuals without the use of large machinery. The authors accredit small-scale deforestation to the relative poverty and political instability in the countries of the Congo rainforest. In particular, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Cameroon have human development indexes below 10%, meaning that the people of the countries are poor and uneducated. Over 90% of deforestation in these countries was done to satisfy the need for small-scale rotational or semi-permanent agriculture. There are very few ways for people to make a livelihood in these countries, so they carve out land from the rainforest in order to produce food to sustain themselves and their communities.
Forest clearing rates in Cameroon and DRC reflect a direct correlation between population growth and deforestation. DRC has claim to over 60% of the Congo Rainforest and has over two times the population of Cameroon, Gabon, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, and the Republic of Congo combined. Although Cameroon and DRC share similar struggles socially, economically, and politically, DRC’s rate of deforestation is exponentially larger than that of Cameroon. Population pressures can lead to ecological degradation in order to produce enough food to sustain the quickly growing population. In 2014, DRC had over 70 million people. The United Nations projects the population to more than quintuple to 379 million people by 2100, which would make DRC the fifth most populated country in the world. If the trends of deforestation continue as the population in DRC booms, all of the primary forest in the country may be destroyed by the turn of the century.
The second most significant factor in deforestation is caused by commercial logging, which accounted for over 10% of forest clearing during the time of the study. In Gabon, logging is the country’s primary driver for forest clearing, accounting for 60% of the activity.
Researchers also warn of the “new wave” of industrial agriculture happening in
West Africa, especially along coastal regions. Although the study only attributed agro-industry to about 1% of deforestation throughout the study, trends of industrial logging began to rise towards the last half of the study. They believe that industrial agriculture will likely become a more significant contributor to deforestation in the near future.
The future of the Congo Rainforest is under threat. Finding a solution to save the rainforest and allow the people surrounding it to live sustainable lifestyles is no easy task. However, there is one thing that is for certain; something must be done to preserve the biodiversity of the ever-shrinking Congo Rainforest.
__________________________________________________________________
References:
¹Tyukavina, Alexandra, Matthew C. Hansen, Peter Potapov, Diana Parker, Chima Okpa, Stephen V. Stehman, Indrani Kommareddy, and Svetlana Turubanova. “Congo Basin forest loss dominated by increasing smallholder clearing.” Science advances 4, no. 11 (2018): eaat2993.
