Mechanized Logging, Market Hunting, and a Bank Loan in Congo

Abstract

Financing for logging of tropical moist forests in the Republic of Congo is commonly sought in the form of loans from multilateral development banks. Pressure from nongovernmental conservation organizations and from within the banks themselves has resulted in their beginning to assess the environmental consequences of such loans. We conducted one of the first such assessments of an African Development Bank loan to a logging company. Geographic isolation, resulting transportation costs, and market demands have forced commercial loggers within the Sangha region of Congo to exploit only the most valuable timber. This form of timber extraction destroys an average of 6.8% of the canopy and thus, unlike clear cutting, was expected to have a minimal impact on wildlife populations. Line transect counts showed, however, that primate abundance was exceedingly low in logged forest. We believe this is not a direct consequence of canopy reduction, but results from the extremely intensive market hunting that coincides with timber surveying and extraction. Weapons and hunting camps were common, and logging company vehicles transported primates, duikers and other game daily. Wildlife laws of Congo are openly violated and they are not enforced. While market hunting is clearly facilitated and intensified by the presence of logging concessions, it is the Congo’s highly urbanized population that provides the ever growing demand for meat, a demand not being met through animal husbandry. Thus, although selective logging in the absence of hunting may have only limited adverse effects on wildlife, when the two are combined the consequences are grave for the Sangha region’s wildlife. Loans to logging companies from the African Development Bank should incorporate conditions for ensuring wildlife conservation.

Central African forests, carbon and climate change

“…However as most concessions are involved in highly selective old-growth forest mining (i.e., tree biomass accumulated over hundreds of years is being liquidated at a rate that far exceeds production rates), present impacts are primarily related to forest fragmentation and defaunation, and not land cover conversion. The size class distribution and regeneration capacity of economically valuable tree species, and plants and animals dependent on these tree species, are certainly adversely affected by selective logging, which often removes over 95% of all commercially valuable individuals > 60 cm diameter at breast height (dbh) (Wilkie et al 1992). However, the highly selective nature of old-growth logging in the region typically damages less than 10% of the canopy (Wilkie et al 1992).…”

“…The size class distribution and regeneration capacity of economically valuable tree species, and plants and animals dependent on these tree species, are certainly adversely affected by selective logging, which often removes over 95% of all commercially valuable individuals > 60 cm diameter at breast height (dbh) (Wilkie et al 1992). However, the highly selective nature of old-growth logging in the region typically damages less than 10% of the canopy (Wilkie et al 1992). Although the canopy damage is relatively small, the impact of selected logging on carbon storage and sequestration rates is more significant, as trees > 60 cm dbh contain 20 to 35% of the total carbon biomass (Borry 1995).…”

Seed and seedling survival of African mahogany (Entandrophragma spp.) in the Central African Republic: Implications for forest management

“…The installation of sawmills has transformed isolated villages into logging towns, abruptly linking them to the global economy (Robinson et al, 1999). The subsequent cascade of effects on the local environment -increased immigration, increased land conversion for agriculture, increased reliance on the forest for construction materials and non-timber forest products, and the commercialization of hunting -has been well documented and much discussed (Wilkie et al, 1992;Makana and Thomas, 2006;Zhang et al, 2006).…”

Impacts of Selective Logging and Agricultural Clearing on Forest Structure, Floristic Composition and Diversity, and Timber Tree Regeneration in the Ituri Forest, Democratic Republic of Congo

“…Valuable timber trees are generally present at low density in the natural forests of Central Africa and rates of extraction rarely exceed 2 trees ha" 1 (White 1994;Malcolm and Ray 2000;Hall et al 2003). Although such selective logging may be relatively ecologically benign (Wilkie et al 1992;White 1994;Hall et al 2003), the ecological and biological complexity of the forest may be profoundly disrupted if the forest is logged repeatedly (Panayotou and Ashton 1992), or if offtake rates are high enough and logged areas serve as foci for elephant disturbance (Struhsaker 1997;Struhsaker et al 1996). In addition, the highly selective character of such timber harvesting practices can lead to severe depletion and may eventually result in the local extinction of some high value tree species.…”