Pokola

Last updated
Pokola
Town and commune
Pokola.jpg
Pokola in 2023
Congo location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Pokola
Location in the Republic of the Congo
Coordinates: 1°24′42″N16°19′22″E / 1.41167°N 16.32278°E / 1.41167; 16.32278
Country Flag of the Republic of the Congo.svg Republic of the Congo
Department Sangha Department
District Kabo District
Commune Pokola
Area
 • Total3.6 sq mi (9.3 km2)
Population
 (2023)
 • Total28,570
 • Density8,000/sq mi (3,100/km2)

Pokola is a town and a commune [1] located in the northern Republic of Congo in the Sangha Department. In 2023, the town had a population of 28,570. [2]

Contents

Economy

Pokola relies on extractive industries, such as logging and hunting, for its economy. [3]

Bushmeat

The Pokola area has not been anthropized, making agriculture difficult. [3]

Because of the little access to farmland, Pokola residents rely on illegal bushmeat for food, [4] [5] with over 5% of meals eaten in Pokola being bushmeat in 2002, a rise from 1% in 2001. [6] Pokola is hunted for ivory to then trade in Ouésso and Cameroon. [7] Bushmeat is often brought and sold directly in the city. [8]

Local police rarely interfere with the bushmeat trade, and the United States Agency for International Development often has to perform investigations to slow down trade. [5] [9]

Logging

The town is the headquarters of one of the largest logging companies in the country, the Congolaise Industrielle des Bois (CIB), a subsidiary of a Singapore group. The company owns 1.8 million hectares of forest, [10] and funds most of the construction in the town. [11]

In 2010, the Parliament of the Republic of the Congo passed a law to protect the country's Baka people and their lands. This made it more difficult to harvest wood. [12]

Transportation

Pokola lies along the Sangha river, and is connected to Ouésso by ferry, [13] until 2023, when the Chinese National Development and Reform Commission built the Sanha Bridge and the Ouésso-Pokola Road, which connected the Pokola with Ouésso. The groundbreaking ceremony was attended by president Denis Sassou Nguesso. [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bushmeat</span> Meat hunted in tropical forests

Bushmeat is meat from wildlife species that are hunted for human consumption. Bushmeat represents a primary source of animal protein and a cash-earning commodity in poor and rural communities of humid tropical forest regions of the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sangha Department (Republic of the Congo)</span> Department of the Republic of the Congo

Sangha is a department of the Republic of the Congo in the northern part of the country. It borders the departments of Cuvette, Cuvette-Ouest, and Likouala, and internationally, Cameroon, Gabon and the Central African Republic. The regional capital is Ouésso. Principal towns include Sembé and Souanké.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ouésso</span> Town and commune in Republic of the Congo

Ouésso is a town and commune in the Ouésso District in northern Republic of the Congo at the border of Cameroon, lying on the Sangha River and surrounded by rainforest. It is the capital of the Sangha Department.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eastern lowland gorilla</span> Subspecies of ape

The eastern lowland gorilla or Grauer's gorilla is a Critically Endangered subspecies of eastern gorilla endemic to the mountainous forests of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Important populations of this gorilla live in the Kahuzi-Biega and Maiko National Parks and their adjacent forests, the Tayna Gorilla Reserve, the Usala forest and on the Itombwe Massif.

Sembé is a village located in the Sangha Department of the Republic of the Congo. It is the administrative seat of the Sembé District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Basankusu</span> Commune in Équateur, DR Congo

Basankusu is a town in Équateur Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is the main town and administrative centre of the Basankusu Territory. In 2004, it had an estimated population of 23,764. It has a gravel airstrip, covered and open markets, a hospital, and three cellphone networks, the first of which was installed in 2006. The town is also known as a centre for bonobo conservation efforts. Despite such developments, most inhabitants live at a subsistence level: hunting, fishing, keeping chickens and keeping a vegetable plot. In 2010, the workers at the local palm plantation would earn an average monthly salary of $40, most others would have much less.

The Lower Guinean forests also known as the Lower Guinean-Congolian forests, are a region of coastal tropical moist broadleaf forest in West Africa, extending along the eastern coast of the Gulf of Guinea from eastern Benin through Nigeria and Cameroon.

The Great Apes Survival Partnership (GRASP) is a UNEP and UNESCO-led World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) Type II Partnership, established in 2001, that aims to conserve the non-human great apes and their habitats—primarily forested tropical ecosystems that provide important services to humanity, through pro-poor conservation and sustainable development strategies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dja River</span> River in central africa

The Dja River is a stream in west-central Africa. It forms part of Cameroon–Republic of Congo border and has a course of roughly 720 kilometres (450 mi).

Karl Ammann is a Swiss conservationist, wildlife photographer, author and documentary film producer. He initiated a campaign focusing on the African bush meat trade, which gained worldwide attention. As a conservation activist, he has specialized in investigative journalism involving undercover exposés dealing with the illegal wildlife trade. In the process, he has exposed NGOs and international conventions for their lack of effectiveness and the promotion of feel-good tales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wildlife of Cameroon</span>

The wildlife of Cameroon is composed of its flora and fauna. Bordering Nigeria, it is considered one of the wettest parts of Africa and records Africa's second highest concentration of biodiversity. To preserve its wildlife, Cameroon has more than 20 protected reserves comprising national parks, zoos, forest reserves and sanctuaries. The protected areas were first created in the northern region under the colonial administration in 1932; the first two reserves established were Mozogo Gokoro Reserve and the Bénoué Reserve, which was followed by the Waza Reserve on 24 March 1934. The coverage of reserves was initially about 4 percent of the country's area, rising to 12 percent; the administration proposes to cover 30 percent of the land area.

Kerry Bowman is a Canadian bioethicist and environmentalist based in Toronto, Ontario.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Republic of the Congo</span> Country in Central Africa

The Republic of the Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply either Congo or the Congo, is a country located on the western coast of Central Africa to the west of the Congo River. It is bordered to the west by Gabon, to the northwest by Cameroon, to the northeast by the Central African Republic, to the southeast by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south by the Angolan exclave of Cabinda, and to the southwest by the Atlantic Ocean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Communes of the Republic of the Congo</span>

The Republic of the Congo includes 16 communes, some divided in urban boroughs (arrondissements) and in quarters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park</span> National Park in the Republic of the Congo

Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park is a national park in the Republic of the Congo. Established in 1993, in the northern provinces of Congo, it is home to forest elephants, great apes, including western lowland gorillas and the eastern sub-species of chimpanzees and bongo. It is 3,921.61 km2 (1,514.14 sq mi) of pristine tropical rainforest with no human habitation within it and with human population densities in its periphery that are comparatively low for the sub-region. The forests have a rich biodiversity of 300 bird species, plus 1,000 plant and tree species which include endangered mahoganies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lobéké National Park</span> National park in Cameroon

Lobéké National Park is a national park of southeastern Cameroon within the Moloundou Arrondissement of East Province. Located in the Congo Basin, it is bounded on the east by the Sangha River which serves as Cameroon's international border with Central African Republic and the Republic of the Congo. It is adjacent to two other reserves in the CAR and Congo. To the northwest is Boumba Bek National Park, another national park in Cameroon's East Province.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deforestation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo</span>

Deforestation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is an environmental conflict of international importance. Most of the deforestation takes place in the Congo Basin, which has the second largest rainforest in the world after the Amazon. Roughly half the remaining rainforest in the Congo Basin is in the DRC.

The wildlife of the Republic of the Congo is a mix of species of different kinds of organisms. There are 400 mammal species, 1,000 bird species and 10,000 plant species in the country. Many parts of the country are covered in tropical rainforest, although some of the southern areas have been cleared by logging.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bayanga</span> Sub-prefectures in Sangha-Mbaéré, Central African Republic

Bayanga is a town and sub-prefecture of Sangha-Mbaéré in the Central African Republic. It is one of the few tourist destinations in the country.

Kabo is a district in the Sangha Department of Republic of the Congo.

References

  1. ↑ "Loi n° 13-2017 du 16 mars 2017 portant érection de certaines communautés urbaines en communes" (PDF). sgg.cg. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  2. ↑ "Congo (Rep.): Departments, Major Cities & Urban Localities - Population Statistics, Maps, Charts, Weather and Web Information". www.citypopulation.de. Retrieved 2024-10-19.
  3. 1 2 Bakouetila, Gilles Freddy Mialoundama; Massamba, Rostand Loïck; Ngandzo, Hippolyte Pepin Ndey; Koubouana, Felix; Bitsindou, Harley Bittson (2022-11-20). "Analysis of Anthropogenic Pressure in the UFA Pokola Production Series, Sangha, Congo". European Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences. 2 (6): 40–47. doi: 10.24018/ejsocial.2022.2.6.347 . ISSN   2736-5522.
  4. ↑ Guynup, Sharon (7 July 2017). "African great ape bushmeat crisis intensifies; few solutions in sight". Mongabay .
  5. 1 2 U.S. Government Publishing Office (11 July 2002). "THE DEVELOPING CRISIS FACING WILDLIFE SPECIES DUE TO BUSHMEAT CONSUMPTION".
  6. ↑ Laurance, William F.; Peres, Carlos A. (October 2006). Emerging Threats to Tropical Forests. University of Chicago Press. p. 406. ISBN   978-0-226-47022-1.
  7. ↑ Hennessey, A. Bennett; Rogers, Jessica (2008). "A Study of the Bushmeat Trade in Ouesso, Republic of Congo". Conservation and Society. 6 (2): 179–184. doi: 10.4103/0972-4923.49211 . ISSN   0972-4923. JSTOR   26392925.
  8. ↑ "The African Bushmeat Trade – A Recipe For Extinction" (PDF). 1998. p. 29.
  9. ↑ "Biodiversity Conservation at the Landscape Scale" (PDF). September 2001. p. 8.
  10. ↑ "Logging Concessions of Northern Congo - CONGO-APES - GTAP". CONGO-APES. Retrieved 2024-03-05.
  11. ↑ "Congopage online newspaper, article from October 9, 2008J". congopage.com. 9 October 2008. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
  12. ↑ "How the Indigenous Baaka of the Congo are saving forests". Forest Stewardship Council . 2 August 2022.
  13. ↑ "Adiac newspaper, article from July 25, 2022J". .adiac-congo.com. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
  14. ↑ "Congolese president lays foundation stone for Chinese-built road project". National Development and Reform Commission . 13 June 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.