Satellite photos reveal forest destruction in DRC
October 2012.
Flying hundreds of kilometres above the Earth, satellites rarely see the human
suffering from war and poverty. But decades of unrest have left a very visible
impact on the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
The DRC contains half of
Africa's tropical forest and the second largest continuous tropical forest in
the world. Because of unrest and economic instability, the Democratic Republic
of the Congo has mostly escaped the industrial-scale deforestation that has taken
place in other tropical countries such as Brazil and Indonesia. The exception
is near the country's eastern border, around Virunga National Park.
Mountain gorillas under
threat
Home to critically endangered mountain gorillas, the forests have been disappearing quickly as population growth and violence have driven people into the resource-rich forest in and around the park. Subsistence slash-and-burn agriculture and charcoal production have eaten away at the trees, transforming deep green forests into pale savannah grasslands.
Home to critically endangered mountain gorillas, the forests have been disappearing quickly as population growth and violence have driven people into the resource-rich forest in and around the park. Subsistence slash-and-burn agriculture and charcoal production have eaten away at the trees, transforming deep green forests into pale savannah grasslands.
1999 - 2008 deforestation
images
The Landsat 5 satellite obtained the top image on February 13, 1999, and the lower image on September 1, 2008. (More recent images of the region were cloudy.) The city of Beni is tan and grey, while the forested Virunga National Park is dark green. The blue Semlike River meanders northeast through the park. The rate of forest loss shown in these two images is the highest among all national parks in the country.
The Landsat 5 satellite obtained the top image on February 13, 1999, and the lower image on September 1, 2008. (More recent images of the region were cloudy.) The city of Beni is tan and grey, while the forested Virunga National Park is dark green. The blue Semlike River meanders northeast through the park. The rate of forest loss shown in these two images is the highest among all national parks in the country.
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