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By Morgan Erickson-Davis
The African Congo Basin is home to the second largest tropical forest on the planet. But according to a new study, this may soon be no longer the case. He notes that at the current rate of deforestation, all primary forests will have disappeared by the end of the century.
The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Maryland (UMD) in the United States, who analyzed satellite data collected between 2000 and 2014. Their findings were published Wednesday in Science Advances. It reveals that the Congo Basin lost about 165,000 square kilometers of forest during their study period.
In other words, one of the largest tropical rainforests in the world has lost a larger forest area than Bangladesh in 15 years.
The rainforest of the Congo Basin is home to many species, such as the okapi (Okapia johnstoni), which is in danger of extinction by IUCN and found only in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
But why? Is this due to industrial pressure, as in South America and Southeast Asia, where deforestation was mainly carried out for soybean, palm oil and other staple crops? Or commercial logging that destroys the forests of Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea?
Not really, according to this new study. It reveals that the main force responsible for increasing deforestation in the Congo, resulting in more than 80% of the total loss of forests in the region, is actually small-scale clearing for subsistence agriculture. The researchers write that the essentials are handmade with simple axes.
According to the authors, small-scale deforestation of Congo's rainforest is mainly due to poverty resulting from political instability and conflicts in the region. The Congo Basin rainforest is shared by six countries: Cameroon, the Central African Republic (CAR), the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Equatorial Guinea, the Republic of Congo (DRC) and Gabon. The DRC holds the largest share of the Congolese forest – 60% – and is home to more people than the other five countries combined. The DRC, with the CAR, has one of the lowest 10 percent human development indexes, which means that lifespan, education levels, and GDP per capita are among the lowest in the world.
Three-year moving average of annual lost forest area for major disturbance categories in all countriesImage of Tyukavina et al., Sci. Adv. 2018; 4: ea2993
With few means of livelihood, most people survive by cutting up farmland in the forest. These plots are grown until the soil is depleted of nutrients, and a new plot is cleared and planted.
Previously, it was unclear to what extent this type of small-scale farming called "shifting cultivation" and other forms of small-scale agriculture contributed to the overall deforestation of the Congo. UMD researchers have therefore searched for models reporting different types of deforestation in the regional data on loss of tree cover captured by satellite.
According to the study's coauthor, Alexandra Tyukavina, "it was important for us to explicitly quantify the proportions of different engines, to show how small-scale clearing of forests for shifting cultivation is dominant in the region, and to show that he clearing secondary forests, but also expanding into primary forests. "Tyukavina is a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Geographical Sciences of UMD.
Tyukavina and his colleagues found that small-scale deforestation for agriculture contributed to about 84 percent of deforestation in the Congo Basin between 2000 and 2014. By zooming in on the portions contained only in the DRC and CAR, number exceeds 90%. . Gabon is the only country where small scale farming is not the driving force behind deforestation. Industrial selective logging is the main cause of forest loss.
The study also reveals that the majority – 60% – of deforestation in the Congo between 2000 and 2014 occurred in primary forests and woodlands, as well as in mature secondary forests.
Pre-disturbance forest type. (A) Pre-disturbance reference type for sampled pixels identified as forest loss. (B) National estimates of 2000-2014 forest loss area by forest type re-disturbed. Area estimates expressed in hectares with SE are presented in Table S2A.Image of Tyukavina et al., Sci. Adv. 2018; 4: ea2993
The United Nations predicts that the human population in the Congo Basin will be multiplied by five by the end of the century. The researchers found that if current trends continue, it would mean that there will be no primary rainforest left in the Congo by 2100.
In their study, the researchers also warned of "a new wave" of large-scale land clearing for industrial agriculture. While it accounted for only 1% of deforestation in the Congo during the period under review, the trend appears to be on the rise, especially in coastal countries.
"Land use planning that minimizes the conversion of natural forest cover to agribusiness will help mitigate this emerging and growing threat to primary forests," the researchers write.
Republished with the permission of our media partner, Mongabay.
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