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1. Name of Forest: Congo Rainforest
2. Name of Area: The Congo Rainforest comprises of Cameroon, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. (CIFOR -ICRAF Knowledge).
3. Size of Area: 1.2 million square miles (World Atlas)
4. Key drivers of deforestation: Industrial activity – such as palm oil plantations, logging and mining – encroaching on animal habitats and disrupting the balance of ecosystems. development of infrastructure, human activities like wood fuel, commercial farming, small-scale charcoal production and slash-and-burn agriculture, poverty and climate change among others. (BBC Future).
5. Key companies involved– Congo-based SIFORCO (Société Industrielle et Forestière du Congo) and SODEFOR (Société de Développement Forestier), a subsidiary of Nordsudtimber in Liechtenstein. (EURACTIV)
6. Key government agencies involved – The Ministry Environment and Sustainable Development which is responsible for issuing logging licences.
7. Nature of biodiversity in the area: Congo Basin forests make up the second largest massif of unbroken tropical primary forest after the Amazon, houses the world’s most extensive tropical peatland, an estimated 10,000 species of tropical plants and endangered species that can’t be found anywhere else in the world, such as forest elephants, lowland and mountain gorillas, and okapis, a unique mammal that is perhaps best described as a mix between a giraffe and a zebra. (BBC Future).
There are also 400 species of mammals, over 600 tree species, 10,000 animal 1,000 bird species, and 700 fish species, including endangered wildlife such as forest elephants, chimpanzees, and bonobos. (The World Atlas).
8. What can be done to stop deforestation and habitat destruction.
– To cap logging, local communities and public agencies should be empowered to enforce the already existing laws, like the 2020 Congo restriction of export of unprocessed logs. (Forest Trends). Additionally, and regional initiatives must target global industrial players/logging companies.
– Corruption in the Ministry of environment has come in the way of implementing logging laws, therefore other departments rather than the ministry of environment should be involved in forest matters.
– Furthermore, development of a long-term funding mechanism for Independent Forest Management in Congo Basin (IFM), funding for clean/renewable energy to reduce the cutting of trees for wood fuel, valuing and measuring the forest ecosystem services to help recognise the forest value.
– Global development agencies should consider alternative development plans to reduce poverty in Congo Basin countries which is another reason for deforestation.
9. Map of the area
References
1. Deforestation and forest degradation in the Congo Basin: State of knowledge, current causes and perspectives – CIFOR-ICRAF Knowledge)
2. The Congo Rainforest – WorldAtlas).
3. Report: Logging companies plundering Congo’s rainforest – Euractiv
4. The bold plan to save Africa’s largest forest – BBC Future)
5. The Congo Rainforest A- WorldAtlas
6. https://www.forest-trends.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Republic-of-the-Congo-Timber-Legality-Dashboard IDAT-Risk.pdf