Deforestation Trends in the Congo Basin: Reconciling Economic Growth and Forest Protection by Carole Megevand

Author:Carole Megevand
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The World Bank

Source: Authors, calculated from Deininger et al. 2011.

Note: km2 = square kilometer.

Box 2.6 Land Suitability on Nonforested Areas in Congo Basin Countries

The Democratic Republic of Congo has the greatest reserve of uncultivated, nonprotected, and low population densitya land suitable for cultivation in Sub-Saharan Africa. That reserve is estimated at 98.3 million hectares, of which three-fourths are currently under forest, and represents nearly seven times the area presently cultivated in this country (more than 16 times if the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) figure for the Democratic Republic of Congo’s currently cultivated land is used).b If only nonforested suitable land is considered, the Democratic Republic of Congo still ranks among the six countries with the largest amount of suitable (but uncultivated) land available in the world (Sudan, Brazil, the Russian Federation, Argentina, Australia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, in that order) but comes second to Sudan in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Democratic Republic of Congo’s nonforested suitable (uncultivated) land is estimated at more than 1.5 times its currently cultivated land (and almost four times its currently cultivated land if the FAO figure is used).

Cameroon is estimated to have a reserve of 13.6 million hectares, of which about two-thirds are presently under forest. This is about twice its area presently under cultivation and 70 percent if only nonforested suitable land is considered.

The Republic of Congo is estimated to have 15.8 million hectares available (of uncultivated, suitable land), of which also about three-fourths are currently under forest. This reserve represents more than 30 times its area presently cultivated and still seven times if only nonforested suitable land is considered.

The Central African Republic is estimated to have a reserve of 12.3 million hectares, approximately one-third under forest, which represents more than six times its area currently cultivated and still more than four times if only nonforested suitable land is considered.

Gabon is estimated to have 7.4 million hectares available, almost 90 percent of which is currently under forest, representing about 19 times its area presently under cultivation. If only nonforested suitable land is considered, the land potentially available in that country still amounts to 2.5 times its currently cultivated land.

Source: Deininger et al. 2011.

a. A threshold of 25 persons per square kilometer—that is, more than 20 hectares per household—was used, under which the authors of the IIASA study considered that voluntary land transfers that make all stakeholders better off can easily yield agreement.

b. FAO figures for Basin countries’ cultivated area (2008) significantly differ from the figures used by Deininger et al. 2011, especially for the Democratic Republic of Congo. FAO figures, in million hectares: Cameroon: 4.7; Central African Republic: 1.0; the Democratic Republic of Congo: 5.9; Gabon: 0.2; Equatorial Guinea: 0.1; the Republic of Congo: 0.3 (FAOSTAT. 2011. http://faostat.fao.org/, FAO, Rome; accessed December 2011).

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