Conservation of West and Central African rainforests

This World Bank publication is a collection of selected papers presented at the Conference on Conservation of West and Central African Rainforests in Abidjan Ivory Coast in November 1990. These rainforests are very important to the stability of the regional and global environment yet human activity is destroying them at a rate of 2 million hectares/year. Causes of forest destruction are commercial logging for export conversion of forests into farmland cutting of forests for fuelwood and open-access land tenure systems. Other than an introduction and conclusion this document is divided into 8 broad topics: country strategies agricultural nexus natural forestry management biodiversity and conservation forest peoples and products economic values fiscal issues and institutional and private participation issues. Countries addressed in the country strategies section include Zaire Cameroon Sao Tome and Principe and Nigeria. The forest peoples and products section has the most papers: wood products and residual from forestry operations in the Congo; Kutafuta Maisha: searching for life on Zaires Ituri forest frontier; development in the Central African rainforest: concern for forest peoples; concern for Africas forest peoples: a touchstone of a sustainable development policy; Tropical Forestry Action Plans and indigenous people: the case of Cameroon; forest people and people in the forest: investing in local community development; and women and the forest: use and conservation of forestry resources other than wood. Topics in the economic values section range from debt-for-nature swaps to environmental labeling. Forestry taxation and forest revenue systems are discussed under fiscal issues. The conclusion discusses saving Africas rainforests.