Logging in the Congo Basin

The Congo basin is home to the second largest rainforest covering over 500 million acres, and is one of the most important wilderness areas left on earth. Some of the specific species which are endangered as a result of deforestation, exploitation of lumber, illegal poaching and trade include forest elephants, chimpanzees, bonobos, and lowland and mountain gorillas which inhabit the forests. Logging roads (built for easier transportation of goods) have shown to increase bushmeat hunting by improving access for hunters, and by increasing local demand and facilitating wildlife trade out of local villages. And when the population of species decrease, the plant population struggles for species of trees that rely on animals to move their seeds around in order to maintain a stable population. More than 60 percent of Africa’s forest elephants have been killed in the past decade due to the ivory trade.