Assessment, Conservation and Sustainable Use of Forest Biodiversity

Assessment, Conservation and Sustainable Use of Forest Biodiversity
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SUGGESTED ACTIONS FOR AN IMPROVED MANAGEMENT OF FOREST
BIODIVERSITY IN GABON
Célestine Mengue Medou
Université du Québec à Montréal 3
Keywords : assessment; fauna; flora; biodiversity loss; corrective measures
Context
Located in Central Africa, Gabon owns a dense rain-forest (21 million hectares) hosting one of the largest
African biodiversity with 8000 plant, 150 mammalian and 600 bird species. In 1960 the area granted to forest
harvesting was less than 3 million hectares. As of 2000, that area has increased to 11 million hectares (WRI,
2000), representing about 60% of the national territory. The increased rate of forest and mining permits
delivery is not without consequences on forest biological diversity as the current rate of harvesting mainly for
timber is unsustainable (Glastar, 1999).
Method
The direct factors (forest harvesting, mining, poaching, road construction) and indirect factors (socioeconomic
crisis, poverty, institutional deficiencies) that lead to the loss of Gabon’s forest biological diversity
were studied/identified. On their basis, short-, mid- and long-term measures are proposed which could stop
the present trend of biodiversity loss and allow for the restoration of the forest cover up to a level that could at
the same time meet human needs as well as economic and environmental requirements of the goods and
services of forest biodiversity.
Results
In Gabon, forestry is the main cause of biodiversity loss, followed by mining. Forestry is carried out without
following the established country’s norms. It affects, in particular, protected areas because of a lack of control
mechanisms and conflicts between mining and forestry policies/legislation.
The impacts of logging on animals can be illustrated by the decline in the density of chimpanzee (up to 30%)
in the Lopé reservation. In the so-called Bee Forest, road constructions have affected 70% of the primates and
drastically decreased their number. As for the impact on the flora, damages are mainly seen at the ground and
canopy levels. Some studies of the impact of forestry show that deforestation in Gabon has caused a loss of
20 to 50 percent of forest cover. The ecology of more than 70% of animal species living on seeds produced
by trees shows that these species, such as the multipurpose Baillonella sp., Irvingia gabonensis, and Tieghemella
sp., suffer from the reduction in tree population density caused by forest fragmentation. Regeneration of these
species is low in areas where animals responsible for seed dispersal have become rare.
The reduction in faunal population is caused by a range of interlinked pressures, including essentially socioeconomic
crises (e.g. increasing unemployment) and behavioral factors (food habits) as well as emerging
diseases (Ebola virus). Bush meat consumption is the main source of animal proteins to complement food
obtained through agriculture. In fact, annual consumption of bush meat amounts to 17,500 tons representing
95% of animal proteins in the diet of the Gabonese population (Pfeffer, 1996). Poaching is reaching alarming
levels. A recent study by WWF in the Minkébé forest in the northern part of the country shows that some
hunters are killing between 8 to 12 animals per week, whether the species is protected or not.
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This study was carried out as part of an internship at the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity
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