This article needs to be updated. (November 2010) |
Gabon’s forests, which cover an estimated 77% of its land surface, have always supplied many of the necessities of life, especially fuel and shelter. The forests contain over 400 species of trees, with about 100 species suitable for industrial use. Commercial exploitation began as early as 1892, but only in 1913 was Okoumé, Gabon’s most valuable wood, introduced to the international market.
Forestry was the primary source of economic activity in the country until 1968, when the industry was supplanted by crude oil as an earner of foreign exchange. Gabon is the largest exporter of raw wood in the region, and its sales represent 20% of Africa’s raw wood exports. Forestry is second only to the petroleum sector in export earnings, at $319.4 million in 2003. Gabon’s reserves of exploitable timber include: okoumé, 100 million cubic meters; ozigo, 25–35 million cubic meters; ilomba, 20–30 million cubic meters; azobé, 15–25 million cubic meters; and padouk, 10–20 million cubic meters.
Gabon supplies 90% of the world’s okoumé, which makes excellent plywood, and also produces hardwoods, such as mahogany, kevazingo, and ebony. Other woods are dibetou (tigerwood or African walnut), movingui (Nigerian satinwood), and zingana (zebrano or zebrawood). Roundwood removals were estimated at 4 million cubic meters in 2004, with 13% used as fuel wood.
Exploitation had been hampered, to some extent, by the inadequacy of transportation infrastructure, a deficiency now alleviated by the Trans-Gabon Railway and Ndjole-Bitam highway. Reforestation has been continuously promoted, and selective thinning and clearing have prevented the okoumé from being forced out by other species. Over 50 firms are engaged in exploitation of Gabon’s forests. Logging concessions covering about 50,000 square kilometres (19,000 sq mi) have been granted by the government, with the development of the least accessible areas largely carried out by foreign firms. Traditional demand in Europe for African lumber products has declined in recent years; during the 1980s, European demand for okoumé dropped by almost one-third. Markets in Japan, Morocco, and Israel, however, have become more receptive to African imports.
The Central African Republic (CAR) is classified as one of the world's least developed countries, with an estimated annual per capita income of $547 PPP (2014).
Equatorial Guinea is a small nation of 1.2 million located on the west coast of Central Africa which gained independence from Spain in 1968. Thanks to the discovery and exploitation of significant oil reserves in the 1990s, it enjoys a purchasing power parity GDP per capita of more than US$38,699 which is as of 2016 the highest in Africa and the 31st highest in the world. However, the country has been ranked only 138th out of 188 countries on the United Nations Human Development Index in 2015. After the oil price collapsed in 2014, the economy has gone into a free for all which has put growth in a downwards spiral from around 15% to −10%.
Gabon enjoys a per capita income four times that of most nations of sub-Saharan Africa, its reliance on resource extraction industry releasing much of the population from extreme poverty.
A plantation is the large-scale estate meant for farming that specializes in cash crops. The crops that are grown include cotton, coffee, tea, cocoa, sugar cane, sisal, oil seeds, oil palms, rubber trees, and fruits. Protectionist policies and natural comparative advantage have sometimes contributed to determining where plantations were located.
Illegal logging is the harvest, transportation, purchase or sale of timber in violation of laws. The harvesting procedure itself may be illegal, including using corrupt means to gain access to forests; extraction without permission, or from a protected area; the cutting down of protected species; or the extraction of timber in excess of agreed limits.
Although tropical Africa is mostly familiar to the West for its rainforests, this ecozone of Africa is far more diverse. While the tropics are thought of as regions with warm to hot moist climates caused by latitude and the tropical rain belt, the geology of areas, particularly mountain chains, and geographical relation to continental and regional scale winds impact the overall parts of areas, also, making the tropics run from arid to humid in West Africa. The area has very serious overpopulation problems.
Forestry in India is a significant rural industry and a major environmental resource. India is one of the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along with Russia, Brazil, Canada, United States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together, India and these countries account for 67 percent of total forest area of the world. India's forest cover grew at 0.20% annually over 1990-2000, and has grown at the rate of 0.7% per year over 2000-2010, after decades where forest degradation was a matter of serious concern.
The timber industry is a significant contributor to the economy of Russia, worth around 20 billion dollars per year. Russian Forest Industry - a set of Russian industries related to wood harvesting and processing. One of the oldest sectors of the economy.
Woodchips are small to medium sized pieces of wood formed by cutting or chipping larger pieces of wood such as trees, branches, logging residues, stumps, roots, and wood waste.
Forests cover about one-third of Ghana's total area, with commercial forestry concentrated in the southern parts of Ghana.
The forestry sector in Argentina has great potential. The geography of the country extends from north to south, encompassing 4,000 kilometres (2,500 mi). Its variety of climates, land quality, and reliable precipitation allow for the cultivation of different tree species at high growth rates. The country also enjoys short harvest periods for the most important species. This has allowed the industry to become more competitive and continue its high growth rates.
Tourism in Gabon is underdeveloped. Despite this, attractions include beaches, ocean and inland fishing facilities, the falls on the Ogooué River, and the Crystal Mountains. Tourists also come to see the famous hospital founded by Dr. Albert Schweitzer in Lambaréné. Hunting is legal in specific areas from December to September.
The economy of Ivory Coast is stable and currently growing, in the aftermath of political instability in recent decades. The Ivory Coast is largely market-based and depends heavily on the agricultural sector. Almost 70% of the Ivorian people are engaged in some form of agricultural activity. GDP per capita grew 82% in the 1960s, reaching a peak growth of 360% in the 1970s. But this proved unsustainable and it shrank by 28% in the 1980s and a further 22% in the 1990s. This coupled with high population growth resulted in a steady fall in living standards. Gross national product per capita, now rising again, was about US$727 in 1996. After several years of lagging performance, the Ivorian economy began a comeback in 1994, due to the devaluation of the CFA franc and improved prices for cocoa and coffee, growth in non-traditional primary exports such as pineapples and rubber, limited trade and banking liberalization, offshore oil and gas discoveries, and generous external financing and debt rescheduling by multilateral lenders and France. The 50% devaluation of franc zone currencies on 12 January 1994 caused a one-time jump in the inflation rate to 26% in 1994, but the rate fell sharply in 1996-1999. Moreover, government adherence to donor-mandated reforms led to a jump in growth to 5% annually in 1996-99. A majority of the population remains dependent on smallholder cash crop production. Principal exports are cocoa, coffee, and tropical woods.
One of Bhutan's significant natural resources in the late twentieth century was its rich forests and natural vegetation. Bhutan's location in the eastern Himalayas, with its subtropical plains and alpine terrain, gives it more rainfall than its neighbors to the west, a factor greatly facilitating forest growth. The forests contain numerous deciduous and evergreen species, ranging from tropical hardwoods to predominantly oak and pine forests.
Deforestation in Laos is a major environmental concern, with Laos losing forest area to legal and illegal logging.
Deforestation is one of the most serious environmental issues in Sri Lanka. In the 1920s, the island had a 49 percent forest cover but by 2005 this had fallen by approximately 26 percent. Between 1990 and 2000, Sri Lanka lost an average of 26,800 ha of forests per year. This amounts to an average annual deforestation rate of 1.14%. Between 2000 and 2005 the rate accelerated to 1.43% per annum. However, with a long history of policy and laws towards environmental protection, deforestation rates of primary cover have actually decreased 35% since the end of the 1990s thanks to a strong history of conservation measures. The problem of deforestation in Sri Lanka is not as significant in the southern mountainous regions as it is in northern and lowland southern Sri Lanka, largely due to the nature of environmental protection.
Gabon was the richest of the former French Equatorial African colonies in known mineral deposits. In addition to oil, which accounted for 80% of the country’s exports in 2004, Gabon is a world leader in manganese. Potash, uranium, niobium, iron ore, lead, zinc, diamonds, marble, and phosphate have also been discovered, and several deposits are being exploited commercially. Ownership of all mineral rights is vested in the government, which has increased its share of the profits accruing to foreign companies under development contracts.
Illegal logging has been a problem in Madagascar for decades and is perpetuated by extreme poverty and government corruption. Often taking the form of selective logging, the trade has been driven by high international demand for expensive, fine-grained lumber such as rosewood and ebony. Historically, logging and exporting in Madagascar have been regulated by the Malagasy government, although the logging of rare hardwoods was explicitly banned from protected areas in 2000. Since then, government orders and memos have intermittently alternated between permitting and banning exports of precious woods. The most commonly cited reason for permitting exports is to salvage valuable wood from cyclone damage, although this reasoning has come under heavy scrutiny. This oscillating availability of Malagasy rosewood and other precious woods has created a market of rising and falling prices, allowing traders or "timber barons" to stockpile illegally sourced logs during periodic bans and then flood the market when the trade windows open and prices are high. Over 350,000 trees were illegally felled in Madagascar between 2010 and 2015, according to TRAFFIC.
For the economic effects refer to Economy of Iran.
Deforestation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is a significant transnational issue. In the DRC, forests are cleared for agricultural purposes by utilizing slash and burn techniques.