Saving the African tropical forests
The Congo Basin’s tropical forests are the second largest in the world after those of the Amazon Basin. Gabon itself has an extensive system of rainforests covering 85% of the country.
This story was created for the Google Expeditions project by Francois Fitzpatrick, now available on Google Arts & Culture
Yet today, due to logging activities, poaching and pollution, the forests and their high species richness are threatened.
Thankfully, local and foreign NGOs are working on preventing illegal poaching, on educating children on waste management, and on finding economical alternatives to logging, to build a sustainable future for Gabon.
Old-growth forest in Gabon
An old-growth forest — also termed primary forest, or ancient woodland — is a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance and thereby exhibits unique ecological features.
Old-growth forests are often biologically diverse, and home to many rare species. In the Gabonese tropical forests, there are only a few pockets of old-growth forest remaining.
Many large and tall trees
Old-growth forest tend to have large and tall trees. They include diverse tree-related structures that provide diverse wildlife habitat. Those different wildlife habitat increase the biodiversity of the forested ecosystem.
Few growing plants
Most of the sunlight is absorbed by the tall trees, thus there is little light remaining for ground plants to grow. New trees will grow usually in replacement of a dying tree.
Rich intact soil
Most of the old-growth forests have intact soils and a healthy fungal ecosystem. These old-growth forest characteristics come along with the decay of coarse woody debris on the forest floor.
Secondary forest in Gabon
A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a timber harvest.
Secondary forest regrowing after timber harvest differs from forest regrowing after natural disturbances such as fire, insect infestation, or windthrow because the dead trees remain to provide nutrients, structure, and water retention after natural disturbances.
Few large trees
This is an 80 years-old secondary forest. Most of the tall trees are very thin which indicate they are young. Each year, the tree forms new cells, arranged in concentric circles called annual growth rings, and thus grows thicker.
Many growing plants
The fastest growing plant in Gabonese forests is the Marantaceae family, also known as the arrowroot family. Most gorillas build themselves beds among those plants to stay hidden from predators.
The canopy is still in the making
An old-growth forest is known for its diverse tree structure including multi-layered canopies. On the contrary in secondary forest it happens that the canopies are not yet formed, thus sunlight is only slightly blocked by trees.
A savanna inside a vast forest
A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland grassland ecosystem characterized by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close out the light completely.
The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to support an unbroken herbaceous layer consisting primarily of grasses. In Gabon, savannas can be entirely surrounded by primary or secondary forests.
Very few trees
Trees are sufficiently widely spaced. This implies that the canopy does not close out the light completely. The lack of trees make animal sightseeing much easier for tourists in savannas.
Grass
The main plant which many animals from the forest come to eat. Grass is a green plant that grows naturally over a lot of the earth's surface, having groups of very thin leaves that grow close together in large numbers
Tourists doing animal sightseeing
It is difficult to spot animals inside the forest, since animals can usually detect very early the approach of a human walking towards it. On the contrary in a savanna, it’s possible to approach animals quite close, without being heard.
Logging activity in Gabon
Gabon’s main raw material resource has always been oil. Nevertheless for the past thirty years it has tried to find economic alternatives to oil to sustain its growth and be less dependent on the market crude oil price.
Its biggest economic alternative is logging which consists of growing forests of selected species in order to sell them on the international wood market.
Felled and delimbed trees ready for transportation
In some logging methods, trees are delimbed as soon as they have been felled. That means they have their branches removed from the trunk. It is a more ecological way of proceeding since some nutriments will stay in the forest.
Gabon felled trees are transported by train
The Trans-Gabon Railway (French: Transgabonais) is the only railway in Gabon. It runs 670 km east from Owendo port station in Libreville to Franceville. It is used to transport both passengers and goods (mainly wood and Manganese).
The dangers of poaching in Gabon
Poaching has traditionally been defined as the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals. In African rural areas, the key motives for poaching are the lack of employment opportunities and a limited potential for agriculture and livestock production.
Poor people rely on natural resources for their survival and generate cash income through the sale of bushmeat, which attracts high prices in urban centers.
Elephants are poached for their ivory tusks
Although elephant poaching is prohibited in Gabon, demand for ivory has continued to stimulate illegal trafficking and poaching of elephants. You can see clearly on this skull that the elephant tusks have been withdrawn.
Monkeys skulls are very similar to human’s
These are skulls of Mangabeys. They are usually killed for medical purpose, for export and for scientific experiments, for their fur, or by accident in the aim to kill other animals.
Antelopes skull are long shaped skulls with horns
Antelopes, potamochoerus, porcupine are animals poached usually to be sold as bushmeat. Once killed, the animals are hung to a spike on a oil barrel on the road side. This way anyone can stop and purchase the animal.
Pollution of the Gabonese beaches
Plastic is the most common man-made element that is found in the ocean. It is harmful for the environment as it does not break down easily and is often considered as food by marine animals. Gabonese beaches receive most of the waste thrown in the water in Congo on the South.
Plastic brought to the beach by sea tides
Most of the waste of this beach (plastic, cans, tires, clothes…) comes from bad waste management in Congo which has traveled from Pointe Noire to Libreville by the sea currents.
Tourism is affected by the ocean pollution
Many beautiful Gabonese beaches have been tarnished by the arrival of plastic waste. Is it one of the factors explaining the decrease in tourism in Gabon in the past years.
Raising awareness on those dangers at school
It is crucial to raise awareness to Gabonese children as early as possible on the dangers their forests are facing. Several NGOs have set up education programs to bring access to environmental education and community ecotourism.
These programs also include cleaning session of the plastic waste from the coasts.
Teaching the protected species in Gabon
Gabon’s Ministry of environment has made up a poster listing all the endangered species in Gabon. Part of the environmental education is to teach what this poster means and make sure all the students understand it.
Members of an NGO promoting environmental education
The members of this NGO which protects sea turtles in several National Parks come every month to teach a different subject related to wildlife, to forests, to human activities and their dangers on the environment.
Mixed age classes
In the countryside, it is difficult to have schools with all the different school levels. The students will be grouped in class by age range. This age range can go up to 5 years difference in some areas.
Preventing poaching and illegal logging with natural parks
In November 2002, President Omar Bongo Ondimba put Gabon firmly on the map by creating 13 new national parks in Gabon. All together, the thirteen parks created represent 10% of the landmass of Gabon. This was an attempt to protect Gabon’s rich biodiversity and dense rainforests.
Gate to the Lopé Park
This red and white barrier is the only way to legally enter into the Lopé park which is one of the richest National Park in Gabon. It is guarded by several eco-guards.
Eco-guide to visit the park
As a tourist you need to be accompanied by a guide to go inside a National Park. You can risk legal threats if you do not respect this rule, along with life threats from animal attacks.
Sustainable economic alternatives to logging and poaching
Finding alternatives to cutting down trees is a new trend in the forest conservation world. More and more NGOs set up programs to support rural communities to develop a range of livelihood activities.
Including non-timber forest products, improved agroforestry activities and productivity intensification, community-based ecotourism infrastructure, micro-credit and communication walkways development as well as other economic, social, cultural and environmental activities.
The local community chief
In order to set up a program with a local community, it is crucial to meet the local chief and ask him what are his priorities for the development of his community.
The founder of an international NGO
NGOs are very good at setting up a program which will get funding from international organizations. Several members of the NGO came to discuss with several members of the community to identify the core needs of the village.
The eco-guards
Eco-guards are key in making the bridge between local communities and NGOs members since they are born and raised in the country, and yet they have interacted with many foreign tourists.
