, Dr. Laurance told MEAWW. This is extremely worrisome, said the research team, as the DRC has plans to increase logging sharply. They added that the DRC recently sold 1.6 million acres (650,000 hectares) of new logging concessions to Chinese timber corporations.
The researchers said that there is considerable scope to improve the sustainability of selective-logging operations by closing disused logging roads or by destroying bridges over creeks after they have harvested the timber, which can sharply reduce deforestation and limit poaching. They said one promising result is that, outside of the DRC, many roads inside logging areas are being abandoned and the forest allowed to regenerate after the timber is harvested, suggesting that there is considerable scope to make industrial logging less damaging to forests.
A key conclusion of the study is that much road building in Africa is very harmful, destroying forests, and killing wildlife. Dr. Laurance said to address this problem, the most crucial step that should be taken is to critically evaluate road-building schemes as many roads are being built to extract timber, minerals, and fossil fuels and there is a great deal of corruption involved.
According to the research team, many projects are getting approvals only because corporations and financiers from China and elsewhere are bribing government officials in Africa to get unimpeded access to natural resources.
“A rapid influx of foreign investment from China and other nations, often focused on exploiting timber, minerals, and fossil fuels, is a critical threat to Congo ecosystems. Because of widespread corruption, many high-risk projects are being approved in African nations,” Dr. Laurance told MEAWW.
He further said that a related need is for more transparency. “For many projects, a few people - such as politicians and land-developers - are getting very rich, while the majority of people see little economic benefit, and there are huge environmental costs. Most of this is happening in the shadows. China does not conduct its business openly, and neither do some African nations, so there’s a real challenge here,” he said.