Deforestation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Deforestation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is an <a href="/facts/Environmental_conflict/goRWfTLl">environmental conflict</a> of international importance. Most of the <a href="/facts/Deforestation/L1TNhN9p">deforestation</a> takes place in the <a href="/facts/Congo_Basin/TGz9kK1Q">Congo Basin</a>, which has <a href="/facts/Congolian_rainforests/m1hh18ef">the second largest rainforest in the world</a> after the <a href="/facts/Amazon_rainforest/MGVatclX">Amazon</a>. Roughly half the remaining rainforest in the Congo Basin is in the <a href="/facts/Democratic_Republic_of_the_Congo/E2KmHDdv">DRC</a>.
There are compounding causes underlying deforestation in the DRC. Trees are <a href="/facts/Slash_and_burn/2Bxk7Rjz">slashed and burned</a> for <a href="/facts/Agriculture_in_the_Democratic_Republic_of_the_Congo/dQbKRWhj">agriculture in the country</a>. Illegal logging, road development and city expansion are also among some of the causes for deforestation.
Deforestation in the DRC leads to biodiversity loss, <a href="/facts/Soil_erosion/pbwuyY5H">soil erosion</a> and <a href="/facts/Deforestation_and_climate_change/IBYJuPPk">contributes to climate change</a>. The DRC is one of 17 <a href="/facts/Megadiverse_countries/BE8PrlT7">megadiverse</a> countries, with a significant <a href="/facts/Wildlife_of_the_Democratic_Republic_of_the_Congo/yNesrk3v">wildlife</a> that is harmed by habitat loss. For example, 60% of the <a href="/facts/African_forest_elephant/7yFeyAPV">forest elephant</a> population drop is due to the loss of shelter caused by <a href="/facts/Illegal_logging/0VxHMVNb">illegal logging</a>.
From 1990 to 2015, the rate of deforestation in the DRC remained constant at 0.2%, that is 311,000 <a href="/facts/Hectares/DPz2HDGr">hectares</a>, or roughly 1,200 <a href="/facts/Square_mile/APEmjNTq">square miles</a>, annually. Three reasons have been suggested as to why deforestation rates remained relatively low: 1) the road network within the country has been gradually in decline making access to more remote areas more difficult; 2) political and regulatory changes have disincentivized <a href="/facts/Investment/VrMookcv">investment</a> in the country; and 3) agriculture has expanded outside of forest areas.
While the rates of deforestation remained constant, wood removal (measured in cubic meters) continues to increase annually. Industrialized roundwood increased from 3.05 million cubic meters in 1990 to 4.45 million cubic meters in 2010, and fuelwood increased from 44.2 million cubic meters to 75.44 million cubic meters annually in the same period.
From 2015 to 2019 the rate of tree-felling in the Democratic Republic of Congo doubled.

Deforestation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo open-in-new

Deforestation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo