Dynamic Planet- Sub unit 3

Battle for the Biosphere

3.2a How have humans impacted the biosphere?

To understand that the biosphere is being degraded by human actions

The destruction of the Congo basin

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptiUM7GzyeQ&feature=PlayList&p=4F03A49561337C9E&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=39 WWF intro to congo basin

World's second largest rainforest(18% of the planet's remainingtropical rainforest). The Congo

Basinrepresents 70% of the African

continent's plant cover and makes

up a large portion of Africa'sbiodiversity with over 600 tree

species and 10 000 animal species.

Six nations -- Cameroon, the Central

African Republic, the Republic ofCongo, the Democratic Republic

ofCongo, Equatorial Guinea andGabon -- share the 1.5 million

square mile Congo basin.

Why study the Congo Basin Not the

Amazon?

• http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/tags/drc?page=1 video clip carving up the Congo 8m 25 secs

Deforestation• The Congo Rainforest is

one of the world's most threatened ecosystems.

• Commercial logging, clearing for subsistence agriculture, and widespread civil strife has devastated forests, displaced forest dwellers, and resulted in the expansion of the "bushmeat" trade.

• Since the 1980s, Africa has had the highest deforestation rates of any region on the globe.

Logging • Logging in the Congo Basin has increased significantly

as peace has returned to the region. • In 2004, encouraged by the World Bank, Congo

announced its plans to step up the commercial logging of its rainforest.

• The timber industry is a major employer in Congo countries and thousands of workers rely on logging companies for basic healthcare and other services.

• Illegal logging is a significant problem as underpaid bureaucrats look to supplement their incomes by opening restricted areas to cutting.

• Since the end of the war in Congo DR, concessions have been granted and the pace of logging in Africa's largest remaining rain forest is picking up

Subsistence Agriculture

• Most of the deforestation in the Congo is caused by local subsistence activities by poor farmers and villagers who rely on forest lands for agriculture and fuel wood collection.

• Slash-and-burn is commonly used for clearing forest

• Typically, poor farmers and colonists gains access to forest lands by following logging roads, although in the past few years civil strife has driven many Central Africans deep into the rainforest to escape the widespread violence.

Civil Strife

• Central Africa has been plagued with violence since the mid-90s.

• Hundreds of thousands of refugees have moved through the forests of the Congo, stripping vegetation and devastating wildlife populations. National parks like Virunga -- home to the endangered mountain gorilla -- were looted and park staffers slaughtered.

• Refugee camps bordering parks added to the pressure on parklands.

Mining

• The Congo Basin has some of the world richest mineral deposits. Mining operations are poorly monitored and virtually no consideration is given to short-term health efects -- much less to the environmental impact.

China to establish giant oil palm plantation in DR Congomongabay.com

July 10, 2009

• ZTE Agribusiness Company Ltd, a Chinese firm, plans to establish a one million hectare oil palm plantation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) for biofuel production, reports China state media.

Zhang Peng, ZTE's regional manager, told Xinhua that the plantation could yield up to 5 million tons of palm oil per year, 90 percent of which could be converted to biodiesel. He claimed that the plantation would employ "thousands" of local Congolese workers.

Xinhua didn't specify whether production would be for local consumption or export, nor did it note the location of the plantation. Current oil palm production in DR Congo stands at around 240,000 metric tons, while demand is expected to grow to 465,000 metric tons in 2010 and 540,000 metric tons in 2015. Gas and diesel imports to DR Congo were 251,000 metric tons in 2006 according to the IEA, suggesting that biodiesel production from palm oil could meet the country's entire demand for diesel and palm oil.

The Bush meat Trade• Today the visitor to many Central African cities

can purchase the meat of virtually any forest animal.

• Demand for bushmeat is driven by the desire for protein, not necessarily the animal source of the protein, the demand for which varies from market to market. In Gabon, McRae reports that annual per capita consumption of bushmeat may reach eight pounds annually.

• The availability of bushmeat is made possible by the logging industry whose road construction opens rainforest to hunters and settlers.

• Hunters make a living by selling bushmeat to passing loggers, traders, and local villagers. The majority of bushmeat is brought to city markets by loggers.

• Regional bushmeat hunting is expected is increase as commercial logging expands in the Congo Basin.

• More than 300 gorillas butchered each year in the Republic of CongoRose Picardal of Endangered Species International March 27, 2009

Gorilla is sold in the form of smoked meat already cut in pieces. A piece of hand size smoked gorilla is usually sold for 2,500 CFA (6 USD). ESI has estimated about 300 gorillas butchered a year for the bushmeat market in Pointe Noire.

Gorilla illegal market trade is thriving in Congo and the mass arrival of the Chinese in search of natural resources will exacerbate illegal hunting for rare and endangered species.

Examples of frequent wildlifespecies observed by a local ESIteam led by Franck Makoundi,included mandrill, African rockpython, spotted hyaena, greatblue turaco, Nile monitor, and

black-and-white-casquedhornbill.

Can money save the Congo basin rainforest?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2008/jun/17/canmoneysavethecongobasin

Conserving the Congo Basin

• Cameroon rainforest given 30 days to be conserved or sold off for loggingRhett A. Butler, mongabay.com June 18, 2009

• http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0617-cameroon.html

• Gorillas orphaned by bushmeat trade set free on island • August 10, 2009• http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0810-hance_gorilla_release.html • Video on page of release also

• First captive bonobos released into the wildJeremy Hancemongabay.com June 16, 2009

• http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0616-hance_bonoborelease.html

• Range extended for world’s most mysterious gorillaJeremy Hancemongabay.com

• June 11, 2009

http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0611-hance_grauergorilla.html

• New rainforest reserve in Congo benefits bonobos and locals Jeremy Hancemongabay.com May 25, 2009

• http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0525-hance_kokolopori.html

• Congo biochar initiative will reduce poverty, protect forests, slow climate changemongabay.com May 19, 2009

http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0519-biochar.html

Farmer applying biochar to a poor soil.

Children show charcoal made from palm branches.

• The EU and Republic of Congo announce system to eradicate illegal loggingJeremy Hancemongabay.com May 11, 2009http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0511-hance_congoexport.html

The government of Republic of Congo (Brazzaville) has offered 25 million acres (10 million hectares) of land to South African farmers in an effort to improve the central African nation's food security, reports Reuters. The area is nearly twice the amount of arable land in South

Africa.

The deal was revealed by Theo de Jager, deputy president of Agriculture South Africa (AgriSA), South Africa's lagrest farmers union, in an interview with Reuters last week at an agriculture

conference in Durban.

• Republic of Congo to turn over 25 M acres of land to South African farmersmongabay.com April 20, 2009

http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0420-congo_farming.html

• Should the Congo basin be exploited or protected at all costs?

• Use the information you have been given to decide