Poor governance fuels ‘horrible dynamic’ of deforestation in DRC
by Victoria Schneider on 21 December 2020
Forests in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been disappearing at increasing speed, with annual deforestation rates exceeding 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres) in the past five years and believed to have surged during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Poor governance and corruption are considered the biggest obstacles to protecting the country’s forests from the pressures of subsistence agriculture and fuelwood collection, as well as the expansion of legal and illegal industrial operations.
Progress on improving forest management has been made through the implementation of community forest legislation and a new law concerning Indigenous people’s right to their forests, but their implementation remains far from ideal.