A lorry transports logs from a sawmill owned by Italian logging company, SEFAC (Societe d'Exploitations Forestieres et Agricoles du Cameroun) one of several forestry companies operating in Cameroon. SEFAC is guilty of major violations of local forestry legislation and an arrogant disregard for the rights of
local people. The Congo forests are of global significance for biodiversity conservation and of critical importance in climate regulation. Millions of people depend on them for their basic needs of shelter, food and medicine. The biggest areas of yet largely intact rainforest are found within the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The World Bank and its donors are promoting a similar model of industrial logging in the DRC to the one they advocated in the Cameroon a decade ago under the illusion that it will alleviate poverty and help the country’s economic development. So far, rather than fast tracking development and alleviating poverty, industrial logging has caused environmental destruction and social conflict and is failing both the rainforests and the people of the Cameroon in numerous ways. It is leading to the degradation of much of the Cameroon’s rainforest and has done little to reduce poverty. Wildlife species are suffering as new logging roads provide easy access for hunters into otherwise inaccessible areas. Unless the World Bank learns from its mistakes in the Cameroon and reviews its development model, the people and rainforests of the DRC will suffer a similar fate but the scale will be far greater.