The Sustainability of Industrial Logging under Gabonese Environmental Laws

Abstract

The importance of forests in supporting millions of livelihoods in the world cannot be over emphasized. In Gabon like in all the other Countries of the Congo Basin Forests, forestry exploitation is carried out under the concession regime but with considerably diminished European interests as opposed to Asian conglomerates gaining grounds particularly the Chinese. Indeed, the emergence of Sino-Indian rivalry in the forest sector in Gabon is emerging. The State of Gabon, being one of the principal stakeholders in the protection of forests on its national territory has enacted forest protection legislation and equally erected a forest perseveration institutional framework. Inspite of these laudable efforts, forest loss particularly emanating from mechanized logging is still going on. As such, the very existence of Gabonese forests which constitute an integral part of the greater Congo Basin Forests is seriously threatened. Through a content analysis of primary and secondary data, this article thus reviews how the plethora of legislative and institutional frameworks put in place to check logging at a large scale have been implemented and enforced to ensure the continuous existence of the forest. The findings of this study reveal that Gabon has a great forest potential per km2 of its 267.667km2 surface area that is very diversified and harbours a very rich and endemic biological diversity. Hence, the need for its protection for humanity’s sake is imperative.