Protecting DR Congo’s forests: New timber parks to help fight illegal logging
Logged trees are transported and loaded into the Congo Basin Forest by an industrial company near Kisangani in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. PHOTO | AFP
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) joined the East African Community (EAC) in 2022. This will offer the country, which has immense natural wealth, a huge market in neighbouring countries and direct access to new roads, railways and ports – and therefore potential global trade.
But as East African road and rail networks expand and transportation costs fall, the DRC’s eastern forests will become more vulnerable to surging demand by regional and global markets.
