Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

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

Mechanized Logging, Market Hunting, and a Bank Loan in Congo 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. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Conservation Biology Wiley

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

Download PDF
11 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/wiley/mechanized-logging-market-hunting-and-a-bank-loan-in-congo-anqXCj9M9Y

References (6)

Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
"Copyright © 1992 Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company"
ISSN
0888-8892
eISSN
1523-1739
DOI
10.1046/j.1523-1739.1992.06040570.x
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

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.

Journal

Conservation Biology – Wiley

Published: Dec 1, 1992

There are no references for this article.