Assessing the impact of China's timber industry on Congo Basin land use change

Area - Tập 51 Số 2 - Trang 340-349 - 2019
Trevon Fuller1, Thomas P. Narins2, Janet Nackoney3, Timothy C. Bonebrake4, Paul Sesink Clee5, Katy Morgan6, Anthony Tróchez7, Demetrio Bocuma Meñe5, Eddy Bongwele8, Kevin Y. Njabo1, Nicola M. Anthony6, Mary Katherine Gonder5, Matthew E. Kahn9, Walter R. Allen10, Thomas B. Smith1,11
1Center for Tropical Research, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2Department of Geography and Planning, the University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY, USA
3Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
4School of Biological Sciences and Department of Earth Sciences, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
5Department of Biology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
6Department of Biology, University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA, USA
7Department of Education, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
8Observatoire Satellital des Forêts d′Afrique Central Kinshasa Democratic Republic of Congo
9Department of Economics, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
10Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
11Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Tóm tắt

Through the rise of global commodity chains, consumer demand in China and the USA has given rise to the extraction of natural resources in the Congo Basin. The Chinese market for high‐valued animal products such as elephant ivory and pangolin scales has encouraged poaching, exploitation and trafficking of these goods in Africa. Chinese demand for other African commodities, however, remains less well known. Using data across a 15‐year period (2001–2015), we analysed the relationship between Chinese timber imports and tree‐cover loss in the Congo Basin. Tree‐cover loss was measured via remote sensing and the value of imports was obtained from official trade statistics. Results indicate that the total accumulated export of wood from Congo Basin countries to China doubled between 2001 and 2015, with 50% of exports originating from Cameroon and the Republic of Congo. We found a positive relationship between measures of Chinese logging and the loss of tree cover in the Congo Basin. Further investigation of the timber products market showed that US demand for Chinese‐made furniture was positively correlated with Chinese timber imports from the Congo Basin. These findings suggest that US demand for furniture encourages Chinese economic actors to harvest timber from Congo Basin forests. Our results help to illuminate the complex environmental and economic drivers surrounding trade and deforestation and can help inform consumers about more sustainable ways to purchase wood products from one of the world's preeminent biodiversity hotspots.

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