When growing up in the Congo Basin forest, I witnessed the consequences of forest destruction by logging and industrial agricultural plantations. In some areas, Indigenous communities used to live alongside a rich ecosystem, but now they have been displaced and the wildlife has disappeared. But the authorities are doing little to prevent this corporate violence. […]
The concept of a “pristine wilderness” is a flawed one, researchers argue, but this pervasive idea one where human absence is required in order to preserve land occupies the management of many protected areas in the Congo Basin. It’s a global phenomenon whose roots run deep, as far back as European colonization, but […]