National Geographic News, Reporting Your World Daily

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Photo: African Logging Decimating Pristine Forests, Report Warns


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Extensive logging, such as this tree felling in a Congolese forest, is slowly destroying Africa's remaining pristine forests, a satellite survey of the growth of logging roads has revealed.

Scientists are concerned that the deforestation could worsen climate change, because the vast tracts of forest contain huge amounts of carbon that is released when the land is cleared.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo's forests alone hold 8 percent of the world's carbon.

Photograph courtesy Nadine Laporte, WHRC