Tread Lightly- Deforestation in Africa

   Photo credit: Deforestation Image via EarthTimes.org

When most of us think of taking a trip out to Africa, a lot of the appeal is seeing the wild untamed land. The sprawling sarangeti and the african safaris. However, is tourism helping destroy that same thing which we admire?

     Photo credit: WWF

As you may have already read in previous posts, tourism can have a very harmful to Africa, even though it brings a lot of income to the continent. One of the main negatives tourism contributes is pollution, but that aside, Africa is also suffering from an alarming increase in deforestation. In fact, according to the UNEP (The United Nations Environment Programme) the continent is losing more than four million hectares of forest every year, and the continent's few glaciers are shrinking fast.

To put that into perspective, four million hectares is roughly the size of Switzerland.

Satellite pictures showed recent "scars" or big gaps of damages, in the forests of countries like Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Nigeria, and Rwanda.

Why is this especially alarming? Because those countries bring in a sizable amount of money through tourism; tourism is attracted to wildlife; wildlife needs vegetation and trees to survive, and for the people of some countries, trees are the main things helping them survive severe droughts and provide for their families.


So how can your trip to Africa avoid doing further damage?

Like Jack mentioned in an earlier Animal Friendliness Post, do research into the hotels you'll be staying in, and the safaris you'll be taken. Was the hotel just recently built? Did it use the workforce of locals and a healthy amount of Africa's resources, or did it contribute the deforestation problem the continent is facing? Are the safaris you are taking through an eco-friendly group? Or is the jeep driver promising to take you in to "secret" or "never before seen" areas where you're normally not allowed to go? (Hint: if jeeps aren't supposed to be there, there's a good chance it's trampling vegetation that animals use as a food source ) Do any of the company's profits go towards conservation?

Jack provided some good links earlier, but I'd also like to mention the efforts of the World Wildlife Fund and the success they have had with Namibia in making sustainable tourism a success.

The WWF has many more articles on eco-tourism and many more suggestions on ways tourists can help, just take a look through their site and enjoy!