Logging and Forests in the CAR

The Rainforest Foundation UK (RFUK) is starting work in the Central African Republic (CAR). The country’s massive rainforest is seriously threatened by logging, yet its forest communities have practically no rights to stop their homes being destroyed.

CAR has some five million hectares of dense rainforest, which covers 8% of its national territory. This means that the CAR has the fifth greatest area of forest cover of all African countries.

The CAR’s rainforests, which are part of the Congo Basin rainforest, the world's second largest rainforest after the Amazon, are located in the south-west of the country.

The forests are home to many different communities who depend on forests’ resources to survive. The forests contain abundant and diversified wildlife resources, but also one of the most valuable timber potential in Central Africa, as Project Manager Samuel Dieval explained.

“The logging industry is very profitable: forest taxes are now the prime source of government tax revenue. But not a penny of the vast sums of money made from the country’s considerable natural riches has trickled down to poor communities.

"It is no surprise that the UN ranks the CAR as one of the least developed countries in the world when so many familes are trapped in a state of dire poverty and face a daily struggle to eek out a living for themselves.

“The problem is that forest communities have almost no formally recognized rights to own, have access to or control of the forests.”

He added: “Our new programme will support and strengthen local organisations and forest communities and help them to protect their environment and ensure their rights to land, life and livelihood.”