Deforestation in Africa

Deforestation in Africa is a growing problem that contributes to climate change, habitat loss, and environmental degradation. Africa is home to about 17 percent of the world’s forests, but millions of acres of forests are being cut or burned down each year. Deforestation also affects humans, as a significant percentage of those living in Africa depend on forests. Large-scale deforestation in Africa first became widespread in the mid-1950s. Deforestation rates on the continent increased throughout the 2000s and into the 2020s.

Africa’s deforestation rate is roughly double the world’s average and was expected to only continue to grow. According to a 2022 African Forestry and Wildlife Commission report, Africa lost roughly 4 million hectares of forest each year between 2010 and 2020.

Background

Deforestation is the human destruction of Earth’s forests, which occurs because the land is needed for other purposes. Forests are most often burned or cut down to create space for agriculture and urbanization. Trees in forests are also cut down for logging and firewood. Deforestation is most often a problem in the developing world, mainly because large swaths of land have already been cleared there. Furthermore, Earth’s largest tropical rainforests, which are some of the most diverse and ecologically impactful habitats on Earth, are located in the developing world and are particularly vulnerable to deforestation. By the early 2020s, countries with some of the highest rates of tropical rainforest deforestation included Brazil, Indonesia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Although deforestation occurs for many reasons, poverty is a major contributor.

Overview

Deforestation rates vary depending on the region of Africa, as areas differ significantly in terms of ecosystem, climate, population, and forestation. For example, countries in East Africa and the Congo River Basin are global hotspots for deforestation. The Congo Basin is home to the world’s second-largest tropical rainforest, which includes parts of the Central African Republic (CAR), the DRC, Republic of the Congo, Cameroon, and Equatorial Guinea. By 2023, according to the World Resources Institute, at least two or three of the ten countries in the world that were losing the most primary rainforest were in Africa. They included the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Madagascar, and Cameroon.

Agriculture is a leading cause of deforestation in Africa and throughout the world. People clear forests, usually by burning them, to create large open fields for farming and cattle ranching. Although the tropical rainforests are biodiverse, their soil is relatively low in nutrients. After these forests are cleared, the soil makes it difficult for people to grow crops or grasses to feed livestock. When this happens, people tend to abandon the plot of land and clear another, thus increasing the amount of deforestation.

The cultivation of some crops is especially widespread and damaging to Africa’s forests. Palm oil, which is extracted from the fruit of a palm tree, has become ubiquitous in Western diets as it is used in many processed and packaged foods. Although this oil is consumed mostly in developed countries, it is produced in developing countries mainly in Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Africa.

While palm oil production in Africa has traditionally not been as widespread as it is in other regions, experts noted that by the early 2020s, around 6 million hectares of land in Africa had been cultivated to produce the oil. While some expressed concern about parallel increases in deforestation, some sustainability efforts and programs were put in place in an attempt to curb such negative environmental impacts.

Another huge factor in African deforestation is the need to use trees for fuel and charcoal production. People who live near forests often collect firewood and coal for their own use and to sell in urban areas. Scientists have pointed out that this type of deforestation can be slowed by changing cooking and fuel-producing methods.

Deforestation in Africa occurs for other reasons as well. Urbanization is one cause. As cities grow, more land needs to be cleared for infrastructure and the construction of homes and buildings. Mining—including gold, cobalt, and rare-earth mineral mining—is a great source of wealth for Africa. This mining often requires land to be cleared through slash-and-burn deforestation. Mining companies also clear land to build the roadways and infrastructure that they need to ship goods and move products. However, some experts contend that mining has a benefit in addition to the accumulation of wealth; it discourages deforestation that would otherwise occur for agriculture. Government officials and wildlife advocates have tried to stop mining and mineral exploration to prevent deforestation and habitat loss, especially in areas such as the Congo Basin.

Habitat loss is a harmful effect of deforestation. When forests are destroyed, plants and animals living in those regions are displaced or killed. The Congo Basin, much like the Amazon rainforest, has plants and animals within it that are threatened by deforestation. For example, chimpanzees are found only in this region of the world. Because of deforestation, they are in danger due to habitat loss. As deforestation has destroyed millions of acres of Congo Basin rainforest, people have moved closer to protected lands where chimpanzees and other endangered creatures live, which can be dangerous to both humans and the animals that live there. Habitat loss also means an overall decrease in biodiversity. Scientists believe that the Congo Basin is home to possibly thousands of undiscovered plant and animal species. If these species are destroyed by habitat loss, humans may never identify them or learn of their benefits.

Poverty in Africa also fuels deforestation. The population in Africa has continued to grow, making poverty more rampant than in the past. To survive, people must engage in subsistence farming. People living in poverty typically do not have the tools or knowledge necessary to grow crops in an area year after year. Once the soil becomes poor, they clear a new swath of land and begin again.

Furthermore, the methods they use to clear land are unhealthy for the environment and not sustainable, since people cannot afford to hire crews with large machines to clear land. Slash-and-burn is a common method of deforestation that is often used to clear tropical rainforests. Like all deforestation, the slash-and-burn method removes carbon-capturing trees from the environment and creates conditions leading to erosion. Deforestation also contributes to climate change because it increases the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. Trees and plants help sequester carbon. Earth’s forests, in particular its tropical rainforests, trap carbon that humans produce through energy production and other means. However, as trees are cut down, they can no longer sequester carbon.

Deforestation additionally directly affects people. Many of those living in Africa depend in some way on forests for survival, such as for food and raw materials. Because deforestation destroys forests, it threatens people’s food supply. Furthermore, forests are even more significant for many Africans who have spiritual and cultural connections to plants and animals. As forests are destroyed, so too is the way of life of many African cultures.

Reducing deforestation in Africa has remained a complicated task involving the cooperation of many individuals and businesses. Most experts believe that a key is to engage the private sector to pressure governments into passing more restrictive legislation related to logging and mining. Governments must pass laws to limit human encroachment on rainforests. Companies need to be forced to produce commodities in a way that does not fuel deforestation, such as using recycled materials during production.

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