Ignorance is the night of the mind, but a night without moon or star. -Confucius
Introduction
Other information
In the past
For hundreds of years, it seems the African continent has been viewed as a kind of take-out convenience store by countries in the North – at first mainly for rare and exotic commodities like gemstones, precious metals, ivory, plants and slaves; and later for more basic items such as minerals, food, timber and oil. There is however a new rush to exploit Africa’s resources, this time aiming at the very basics – the fertile soil, relatively abundant water, and low-cost labour represented by poor people across the continent.
Liberia has just emerged from a civil crisis. The sanction on the exportations of Liberian Timber was lifted in 2006 by the United Nations Security Council UNSC. The timber industry, which provided substantial revenue for government, is closed pending the completion of a forestry reform process.
In Gabon, forests and the communities that depend on them for survival face a range of different problems. The logging industry is one of the most serious. On the one hand, it does not benefit local communities in any way. At the same time, the majority of the forestry companies operating in the country (particularly those from Asia, with China and Malaysia in the lead) do not respect any technical standards, and cut trees that do not meet the minimum diameter requirements, for example.
The current development patterns and inequities in the country present a number of forest management challenges.
Mozambique is a country rich in forest resources, with a total forest area of approximately 40.6 million hectares and 14.7 million hectares of other wooded areas (DNTF, 2007). Most provinces have vast areas of unspoiled, beautiful forests, from where rural communities acquire several goods for subsistence as well as for cultural and spiritual reasons. Forest diversity is however poorly documented due to several reasons such as the vastness of the country, poor transport network, the long-lasting civil war, and the general lack of human and financial resources.
The Itombwe Massif lies northwest of Lake Tanganyika (28º02′ - 29º04′ E, 2º41’ - 3º52′ S), stretching over a vast area of 1,600 km2 that encompasses the territories of Mwenga, Fizi and Uvira. It forms part of the Mitumba mountain range, with altitudes ranging from 60 metres above sea level in the western portion to 3,475 metres (Mount Mohi) in the north, with numerous peaks of 2,000 metres or higher, then abruptly dropping to 770 metres in the east, where it borders on Lake Tanganyika.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has the second largest tropical rainforest in the world, second only to the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. The country’s forests have recently drawn international attention, not only due to the challenges posed by climate change, but also because of the struggle being waged by Congolese civil society in general, and the environmental movement in particular, to stop the government from lifting its current moratorium on new logging concessions.
Madagascar is one of the world’s most impoverished countries. 70% of the population lives below the poverty line, the majority working in subsistence agriculture in isolated rural communities, relying on forest resources for their daily livelihoods – for firewood (42% of wood consumption), charcoal (39%) and timber (see ‘National Supply-Demand Study on Wood-based products’ http://www.frameweb.org/ev_en.php?ID=64661_201&ID2=DO_TOPIC), as well as a variety of non timber forest products.
Mt. Elgon is an extinct volcano that is the fourth highest mountain in East Africa. The Bagisu and Sabiny are the two ethnic tribes around the mountain. It has a total area of 2,504 Km² in which the protected area of Mt. Elgon covers approximately 2045 Km² with 1145 km2 comprising the Uganda side and 900 km² comprises the Kenyan side. (Source:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Elgon_National_Park)
WRM information sheets on GE tree research
First posted: 18 August 2008
Last update: August 2014
Forest tree species being manipulated:
rubber tree (1)
Aim of genetic manipulation