Conference highlights pressure on Central African forests
24 May 2013Central Africa’s forests are under pressure from rising population, proliferation of logging roads and forest earmarked for agriculture and mining, according to the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR).
The issue was debated in the May 22-23 Conference on Sustainable Forest Management in Central Africa, attended by more than 500 people.
The conference, organised by CIFOR and the government of Cameroon, heard that the population of the Congo is set to double in the next 25 years, bringing with it potential problems in retaining the region's tropical forest cover.
A declaration was agreed which called for a concerted focus on sustainable forest management practices in Central Africa, as well as intensified high-level collaboration and communication among scientists, governments and the public and private sectors in developing evidence-based policies that add value to timber products.
