"Central African Forests Forever”: Championing Sustainability Solutions in the Congo Basin

The new edition of Central African Forests Forever by Meindert Brouwer is an in-depth look at the Congo Basin rainforest, including opportunities and solutions for its sustainable use. FSC plays an important role in the plan for this vast forest’s protection.

The Congo Basin is the world’s second largest rainforest after the famous Amazon, and a large amount of it is uninterrupted. However, in recent years, human activity has increasingly become a threat to this incredibly diverse ecosystem. From excessive logging to encroachment, governments in the Congo region have realized it is time to form a plan to protect this important forest. In the latest edition of Central African Forests Forever, author Meindert Brouwer takes on these challenges and proposes various ways to deal with them.

The book was presented at the global United Nation’s conference on protecting biodiversity in Kunming, China last month. FSC is featured as one of the means through which the government of Gabon is acting to protect the Congo Basin forest. This includes an interview with Lee White, Minister of Forests of Gabon, about the country’s unprecedented transition to FSC-certfied sustainable forest management in an effort to push back illegal and destructive logging. FSC can be a strong tool for governments to protect forests, and if successful, this example set by Gabon can change forestry in the Congo Basin and worldwide.

Central African Forests Forever has been an important tool for advocating the protection and sustainable use of the Congo Basin’s forests. Green activists in China have used it  to push for Chinese timber companies operating in the Congo Basin, which have a particularly bad reputation for clear-cutting and other harmful forestry practices, to embrace sustainability.  In the long run, sustainable forest management is in the best interest of both companies and forests, a point the book makes very clear.

The updated edition of Central African Forests Forever is currently available in English, Chinese, and French. Visit here to download the book for free.