22 07 13 VOA: Deforestation Slows in Congo Basin

"What we saw is in the 1990s about 285,000 hectares
each year removed over Central Africa. 
And this has declined by over 100,000 hectares in the 2000s.  So there
was a big drop in deforestation rate in Central Africa
between the 1990s and the 2000s, which is quite a surprising result," said
Simon Lewis from the University College London.

The study, which is based on analysis of satellite images, shows the
deforestation rate in the Congo
Basin is lower than in
other major tropical forest region in the world.

Lewis said this may in part be because of how Central African countries have
developed their economies.  They were highly dependent, he said, on oil
and mineral wealth, and were investing less in agricultural expansion.

"They are oriented towards those commodities rather than expanding
agriculture.  So we have not seen the big increase in industrial
agriculture like we have seen in the Amazon for soya and in South-east
Asia for palm oil.  That is not yet happening on a large
scale in Central Africa hence these lower
deforestation rates," said Lewis.

But he said that could well be changing.  He said Central
Africa was at a pivotal moment with rising populations, growing
demand for food and increased living standards.  As these shifts drive
demand for commodities from agricultural land deforestation is likely to rise.

"In the Amazon and in Southeast Asia really large areas of what were
rainforests have been converted to do this industrial-scale agriculture and
there are the first signs that this might be coming to Central
Africa," said Lewis.

The study was published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society
B and is part of a
series on African forests.

Another study found the trees in the Congo
Basin are unique. 

Lewis said they were "more grand and more majestic" than had
previously been realized.

The experts measured more than 100,000 trees and found that African species are
on average much larger than in the Amazon. 

British-based Resource Extraction Monitoring director Stuart Wilson has been
observing the logging industry in Central Africa
for several years. Wilson
said they were good for the environment, absorbing carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere and so slowing the rate of climate change.

He said Monday's study was good news.  But he warned despite logging
regulations in many Central African countries, controls were not in place to
protect the rain forest.  He said governments, and the internatioal
community, needed to do more to make sure trees were protected.

"Each of the countries, if it is Congo Brazzaville or Cameroon or Central African Republic, they are
all facing massive governance problems.  If you take the DRC, for example,
the government simply is not present in two-thirds of the country.  There
is no law enforcement," said Wilson.

The Congo Basin covers more than two million
square kilometers.