Central African forests, carbon and climate change

Abstract

The tropical forests of the world are receiving considerable attention in terms of their role in climate change. Not only does tropical land use change provide an important term in balancing the global carbon budget, but tropical forests also present opportunities for carbon trading in the emerging carbon markets. The Congo Basin contains the second largest area of contiguous rainforest in the world, yet for various reasons has received relatively little attention in terms of these climate change issues. This paper provides an assessment of the current state of the forests of Central Africa, their carbon stock, recent rates of deforestation and a simple predictive model of forest change over the next 60 yr. The roles of agriculture and logging which are driving deforestation are discussed. The future of the forests, whether for commercial use, carbon trading or biodiversity is inextricably linked to how these valuable resources are managed. Suggestions are made for potential carbon trading projects, forest management strategies and a climate change research agenda for the region. Effective forest monitoring and management are seen as essential components for the economic development of this region.KEY WORDS: The Congo Basin · Climate change · Carbon · Forest management and policy Resale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisherClim Res 17: [229][230][231][232][233][234][235][236][237][238][239][240][241][242][243][244][245][246] 2001 Greenhouse gas emissions are widely viewed as an issue for the industrialized countries of the world (Kuik & Gupta 1996, Justice et al. in press). Estimated carbon emissions for fossil fuel and land use from the African continent in 1990 were 0.19 and 0.4 Pg respectively, which together account for 7.7% of global carbon dioxide emissions (Houghton 1995).As the topic of climate change becomes more established, countries are positioning themselves to respond to the issues at political and policy levels (Maya & Churie 1996). The countries of Central Africa 1 with the exception of Equatorial Guinea are signatories to the Climate Convention, yet Central Africa has received considerably less attention than other tropical forest regions of the World and has not featured strongly in the climate change debate. However the large expanses of humid tropical forests hold much of Africa's carbon, and the general level of vulnerability of the peoples and economies of the region make Central Africa an important region for consideration in terms of climate change impacts.The US Congress has directed the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to develop climate change as part of its development portfolio and in response USAID has identified South Africa and the Congo Basin as the 2 focus regions for their climate change activities in Africa (USAID 1998). The climate change activities for the Congo Basin are being undertaken as part of the Central Africa Regional Project for the Environment (CARPE; http://carpe.umd.edu), which has a primary focus on...

Sustainable Choices for a Comprehensive Agricultural Sector in the Congo Basin of Central Africa

“…Although the Congo Basin's overall annual carbon dioxide emissions are low, deforestation and degradation account for 90% (20-60 million tons per year) of its emissions (Kamdem-Toham et al, 2003;Justice et al, 2001;Kotto-Same et al, 1997). Some evidence suggests that selective logging accounts for 25-50% of the region's carbon losses (Sonwa et al, 2011;Justice et al, 2001), and also helps to open up new forest areas for activities such as slash-and-burn farming that are likely to accelerate carbon and biodiversity losses (Duveiller et al, 2008;Kamdem-Toham et al, 2003).…”

“…Some evidence suggests that selective logging accounts for 25-50% of the region's carbon losses (Sonwa et al, 2011;Justice et al, 2001), and also helps to open up new forest areas for activities such as slash-and-burn farming that are likely to accelerate carbon and biodiversity losses (Duveiller et al, 2008;Kamdem-Toham et al, 2003). Therefore, the continued destruction and degradation of the forests hampers the provision of environmental services, undermines the global response to climate change, and reduces the local capacity to adapt to climate change impacts (Ravindranath, 2007).…”

“…Climate change is already impacting economic growth in the basin and constrains countries from realizing targets set in the millennium development goals (Justice et al, 2001). The vulnerability of the region is underscored in livelihoods significantly dependent on climate-sensitive sectors like agriculture, fisheries, pastoral practices and forests Brown & Lapuyade, 2001).…”

“…This loss forms a major barrier to sustainable development in these regions and around the world. What is important about the unfolding climate change challenge in relation to ecological assets is that agriculture dependent on the exploitation of new forest land will be greatly impacted by climate change (Justice et al, 2001) and will require substantial adaptation efforts (Campbell, 2009). At the same time, the agricultural sector being responsible for a significant amount of greenhouse gas emissions, has an important potential role in climate change mitigation (Bonan, 2008;Canadell & Raupach, 2008;Dobbs & Pretty, 2004).…”

Chinese trade and investment and the forests of the Congo Basin: Synthesis of scoping studies in Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo and Gabon

“…et al 2010). The forest ecosystems throughout the greater central African region are the main source of food, produced on forest farms, for more than 30 million people, while more than 50 million people depend in one way or another on non-timber forest products (Justice et al 2001). The most obvious rationale for the present study is that 70% of Africa's log exports to China are from the CB, and in 2009, Gabon was China's fifth largest supplier of logs (Huang et al 2010).…”