Drivers of Deforestation in Africa

Africa

Africa contains approximately 15% of the world’s rainforest cover and Central Africa has the world’s second largest area of rainforest after South America’s Amazon Basin [1]. The African rainforest is broadly divided into four regions - the Guinean Forest of West Africa; the Congo Basin Forest of Central Africa; the Highland Rainforest of East Africa and Madagascar.

The Democratic Republic of Congo alone has 463,000 square miles (1.2 million square kilometres) of tropical forest, an area three times the size of California. Of Central Africa’s remaining undisturbed forest, around 40% now falls within commercial logging concessions granted by governments to companies and individuals [1]. The population of tropical Africa is predicted to grow by 150% between 1990-2025 and tropical Africa is predicted to lose 32% of its forest during the same period [2]. Three of the countries that The Prince’s Rainforests Project have been working with are the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Gabon and Liberia

In Africa the main causes of deforestation are commercial logging, mining, shifting cultivation, woodfuel harvesting and palm oil. Following the end of recent conflicts in some African rainforest nations, (Sierra Leone, Liberia, Congo) activities such as commercial logging and mining have resumed bringing with them increased rates of deforestation.

Commercial Logging
Commercial logging represents an important source of income for many African tropical countries as well as an important employer. Areas logged are more likely to be settled and fully cleared by small scale farmers or large plantation developers, thus not allowing natural regeneration of forests.

Mining
Developing and developed countries’ demand for raw materials has put new pressures on the African rainforests. For example, mining is a major economic sector in the DRC, which has large shares of the world reserves of copper, manganese and coltan. Mining activity used to be concentrated in the South and South East of the DRC, i.e. in the savanna woodlands, but has moved into the rainforest more recently. Mining activity causes deforestation indirectly due to slash and burn agriculture practised by the families of mine workers who move into the regions and infrastructure development

In Liberia, the re-introduction of iron mining activities and associated infrastructure development is a threat to forested areas especially the Nimba Nature Reserve. A ban on diamond mining was also lifted in 2007 and could lead to further pressures in particular areas.

Shifting cultivation
Transient settlers with neither the money nor the political power to acquire permanent holdings on productive lands, follow and settle along roads constructed in the rainforest by development or extractive activities. These people use the trees for building materials and slash-and-burn areas of forest for small scale agriculture. Denuded of their trees, the productivity of the soil declines after a year or two, and farmers move on to clear additional forest for more agricultural land.

Woodfuel Harvesting
While many people in the developed industrialised countries take clean and abundant energy for granted, in many developing countries people still rely on wood to meet their basic energy needs. Most wood fuel is derived from trees grown for this purpose or timber taken from agricultural clearing, and as such is a weak overall driver of deforestation. However, where demand is particularly strong and alternative energy is not available or affordable, wood fuel over harvesting can cause deforestation. This is particularly the case in parts of Africa. For example, in Madagascar, the deforestation has not taken place as a result of commercial logging. The trees fall at hands of poverty stricken Malagasy who need to feed their children. Less than 10% of Madagascar’s forest cover is left which is about 6 million hectares and the forest continues to be cleared for wood fuel at a rate of about 200 000 hectares a year.

Wood is also harvested for charcoal production and sold into urban markets. This tends to lead to deforestation close to urban areas or other centres with high population density.

Palm Oil
Oil palm trees are native to West Africa, but are now grown throughout the tropics to produce vast quantities of vegetable oil, much of which is traded through international commodity markets. Although the overwhelming majority of palm oil production currently takes place in Indonesia and Malaysia, the recent increases in demand and price are leading to the establishment of oil palm plantations in other tropical rainforest countries including Cote d’Ivoire and the Democratic Republic Congo