9. Environmental problems

At the heart of central Africa's great rainforests lies Kisangani, a small city in the Democratic Republic of Congo( D R C) some 1,300  miles from the mouth of the Congo River. The town began as a Belgian trading post, Stanleyville, and was Conrad's model for Kurtz's  inner station in Heart of Darkness. No roads connect Kisangani to the rest  of the world; over the past two decades they have all collapsed and been retaken by the jungle. Even river navigation is blocked beyond here, as a massive  course of falls stretches for sixty miles  years. upstream.

At the global level, Congo's forests act as the plant's  second lung, counterpart to the rapping carbon that could  otherwise become carbon dioxide, the main cause of global warming .

If these woodlands are deforested, the carbon they trap will  be released in the atmosphere. Environmentalists say that if deforestation continues unabated, by 2050 the D R C  could  release as much carbon  dioxide as Britain has in the past sixty. On the ground, this would likely mean desertification, mass migration, hunger, banditry and war.

For example, this company came here just to cut trees,  and from the beginning  it has been nothing  but lies, lies, lies, say the chief, Frederic  Makofi, as several men gathered around nod their approval, Chief  Makofi wants clinics and schools  and buildings  materials  and transportation.

So the D R C needs sustainable forest industries, scientific management of the resource and subsidies from industrialized  economies to preserve the forest for the sake of climate stability.

Source: Global Studies Africa