Publication: Deforestation Trends in the Congo Basin : Logging
Loading...
Files in English
1,520 downloads
140 downloads
1,183 downloads
77 downloads
Published
2013-04
ISSN
Date
2014-01-28
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
The Congo Basin has the largest forest cover on the African continent. Of the 400 million hectares that the Basin comprises, about 200 million of them are covered by forest, with 90 percent being tropical dense forests. The Congo Basin's logging sector has a dualistic configuration. It boasts a highly visible formal sector that is export oriented and dominated by large industrial groups with foreign capital and an informal sector that has long been underestimated and overlooked. This report is one of a series of reports prepared during a two-year attempt to analyze and better understand deforestation dynamics in the Basin. It presents findings related to the logging sector and its potential impact on forest cover, and it is based on an in-depth analysis of the sector. The paper's structure is as follows: first chapter gives an overview of the logging sector both formal and informal in the six countries and its importance in terms of employment and revenues; second chapter is the analyzes and impacts of logging activities on forest cover; and final chapter presents recommendations to foster sustainable logging activities with a particular focus on the informal sector and reduce potential adverse impact on natural forests.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Doetinchem, Nina; Megevand, Carole; Braune, Loic; Dulal, Hari. 2013. Deforestation Trends in the Congo Basin : Logging. Deforestation trends in the Congo Basin;no. 2. Logging. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/16646 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Deforestation Trends in the Congo Basin : Transport(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-04)The Congo Basin is among the most poorly served areas in terms of transport infrastructure in the world, and it faces a challenging environment with dense tropical forests crisscrossed by numerous rivers that require construction of numerous bridges. Given such complexities, constructing transport infrastructure as well as properly maintaining it is certainly a key challenge for the Congo Basin countries. Recent studies indicate that investment required per kilometer of new roads is substantially higher than in other regions of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and the same applies for maintenance. The physical capital of transport infrastructure is deteriorated in the Congo Basin. The ratio of classify roads in good and fair conditions range from 25 percent in Republic of Congo to 68 percent in the Central African Republic, which is globally lower than the average for low-income countries (LICs) and resource-rich countries. Other transportation assets (railways and river system) are also limited: the railway network is essentially a legacy of the colonial era and mainly used for mineral transportation, while the river system is basically only marginal.Publication The Rainforests of Cameroon : Experience and Evidence from a Decade of Reform(World Bank, 2009)In 1994, the Government of Cameroon introduced an array of forest policy reforms, both regulatory and market-based, to support a more organized, transparent, and sustainable system for accessing and using forest resources. This report describes how these reforms played out in the rainforests of Cameroon. The intention is to provide a brief account of a complex process and identify what worked, what did not, and what can be improved. The barriers to placing Cameroon's forests at the service of its people, its economy, and the environment originated with the extractive policies of successive colonial administrations. The barriers were further consolidated after independence through a system of political patronage and influence in which forest resources became a coveted currency for political support. These deeply entangled commercial and political interests have only recently, and reluctantly, started to diverge. In 1994, the government introduced an array of forest policy reforms, both regulatory and market based. The reforms changed the rules determining who could gain access to forest resources, how access could be obtained, how those resources could be used, and who will benefit from their use. This report assesses the outcomes of reforms in forest-rich areas of Cameroon, where the influence of industrial and political elites has dominated since colonial times.Publication Oil, Macroeconomics, and Forests : Assessing the Linkages(World Bank, 2004-01-01)This article focuses mainly on the five primary case study countries. For forest impacts, the concentration is on forest conversion to other land uses and deforestation, defined as a (temporary or permanent) removal of trees to less than 10 percent crown cover, which is similar to the Food and Agricultural Organization's (FAO's) definition. Selective logging is thus not deforestation but may degrade forests and enable conversion. All of the case study countries are tropical countries that export oil, a choice made for two reasons. First, the macroeconomic 'laboratory' of oil exporters offers a good opportunity to study links between external economic changes and forests. Oil economies often fluctuate dramatically due to heavy reliance on a single export commodity with unstable world market prices. Second, earlier studies provide support for the hypotheses that on average oil- and mineral-exporting tropical countries have more forests left and lose them at a slower rate than non-mineral-exporting countries. The article briefly reviews hypotheses and methodologies and outlines the deforestation data problems and how they were dealt with. It presents empirical results for the five primary case study countries and takes a closer look at three of the key causal linkages in the model. It then examines the role of different policy instruments and finally discusses policy insights that extend beyond the oil exporting countries.Publication At Loggerheads? Agricultural Expansion, Poverty Reduction, and Environment in the Tropical Forests(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2007)There are many causes, consequences, and connections of deforestation and forest poverty in the tropical world. This report specifically addresses the potential dilemma of trade-offs between poverty reduction and environmental protection. It seeks to improve the diagnosis of forest problems and facilitate the prescription and application of solutions by focusing on both the causes and consequences of forest conversion to agriculture and on the nature and location of forest poverty. The first section is diagnostic, examining the drivers and consequences of deforestation and forest poverty. The second part looks at how governance, institutions, and policies shape those drivers. It identifies opportunities for win-win policies. In particular, anything that boosts labor demand outside agriculture will tend to reduce both poverty and deforestation. Additionally, promotion of some kinds of agroforestry can help to improve the ecological functions of degraded forests while boosting farm output and employment. The report offers a systematic framework for thinking about how to integrate forest management with rural development in a sustainable way.Publication Protected Areas and Deforestation : New Results from High Resolution Panel Data(World Bank Group, Washington, DC, 2014-11)This paper investigates the effectiveness of protected areas in slowing tropical forest clearing in 64 countries in Asia/Pacific, Africa, and Latin America for the period 2001-2012. The investigation compares deforestation rates inside and within 10 kilometers outside the boundary of protected areas. Annual time series of these deforestation rates were constructed from recently published high-resolution data on forest clearing. For 4,028 parks, panel estimation based on a variety of park characteristics was conducted to test if deforestation is lower in protected areas because of their protected status, or if other factors explain the difference. For a sample of 726 parks established since 2002, a test also was conducted to investigate the effect of park establishment on protection. The findings suggest park size, national park status, and management by indigenous people all have significant association with effective protection across regions. For the Asia/Pacific region, the test offers compelling evidence that park establishment has a near-immediate and powerful effect.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
No results found.