Under Threat: Deforestation pressure on Congo Basin forests increasing
Population growth, conflict, economic development, and increasing global demand for Africa’s forest resources are ramping up pressure on the Congo Basin forests.
The Congo Basin forests are a lifeline for more than 60 million people – providing food and income for many remote communities, storing huge amounts of carbon, supporting unique ecosystems and regulating the flow of the major rivers across Central Africa. Yet the Congo’s forests are being cleared at an alarming rate amid global demand for minerals, energy and wood resources from Africa.
Learn more about the issues facing the Congo Basin forests here.
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Young leaders: The future of the Congo’s forestry researchFrom elephant shrews to ecosystems, Congolese Masters and PhD students at the University of Kisangani in the DRC are unravelling the mysteries of their country’s vast forests.
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Taming Okok: Domesticating forest foods in CameroonOkok, a leafy vine found across the Congo Basin, is such a popular dish that in many villages, a woman won’t find a husband if she can’t cook it! To counter the increasingly unsustainable harvest, villagers in Cameroon are establishing plantations of the vine inside the forest.
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Up the river and paddling hard: Linking climate change adaptation and mitigation in the Congo BasinPeople in the remote town of Lukolela – 540 km from Kinshasa on the Congo River – are already feeling the effects of a changing climate, and with the help of a new project, are planning ways to reduce its impact on their daily lives.
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Bushmeat Stories: Voices from the Congo BasinHunters, traders, scientists and conservationists all view bushmeat differently. But they agree on one thing – the animals are disappearing.
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Cutting through: Formalising Cameroon’s huge domestic timber marketNew research has revealed that Cameroon’s domestic, informal timber market is as large as the country’s industrial export market. The Government is now trying to bring rural chainsaw loggers and traders into the fold and formalise the huge sector.
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Counting carbon: Measuring carbon stocks in logging concessions in CameroonScientists in Cameroon are hoping to bolster scientific evidence that shows sustainable timber production in forests logged by private companies and local communities could increase carbon stocks – thus reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming.
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Forest communities in Cameroon cannot adapt to climate change aloneNew research shows rural communities in Cameroon rely heavily on forests for everything from their nutritional and medicinal needs to fuel for cooking and will be unable to adapt to climate change without significant outside help.
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Postcards from the field
Featured publications about the Congo Basin
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The Forests of the Congo Basin: State of the Forest 2010 -
Cameroon’s hidden harvest: Commercial chainsaw logging, corruption and livelihoods -
Empty forests, empty stomachs? Bushmeat and livelihoods in the Congo and Amazon basins -
Small scale, high value: Gnetum Africanum and buchholzianum value chains in Cameroon -
Building regional priorities in forests for development and adaptation to climate change in the Congo Basin
