Green Gabon

Gabon is a truly fascinating country. I visited in 2018, on a dream quest to see western lowland gorillas in the wild, an elusive and critically endangered species. On arrival, I was immediately taken aback by just how much pristine natural forest covered the country. Exposure to heavily fragmented forest has become part and parcel of my time travelling, but not here. In fact, Gabon has the second highest percentage forest cover of any country globally. Situated in the Congo Basin, the second largest contiguous rainforest in the world, an estimated 85% of the country is a swathe of green. The majority of the population reside along Gabon’s Atlantic coastline, in cities that produce the bulk of Gabon’s GDP, sparing the majority of the landscape from urbanisation. Abundant natural resources (critically oil and timber) have allowed Gabon to become one of the most economically developed nations in Sub-Saharan Africa, with a GDP per capita of $14,400 (2020 est.). Gabon is now being encouraged to champion their rainforests over their oil reserves, to minimise forest loss through effective management.

Gabon - West Africa

Land cover in The Congo Basin

 

An Emerald Gem

The Congo Basin represents around 70% of Africa’s forest cover. Although, rates of environmental degradation in the Basin have remained comparatively low, relative to the rapid loss of forest in Southeast Asia over the same period for example,  deforestation in the region has increased bifold since 1990.  Arguably, this is partly thanks to ‘passive-protection’, where Central/West Africa has witnessed comparably lower rates of population growth and urbanisation, poorer infrastructure development and political instability or conflict. Yet, as Africa develops economically, there is a risk that patterns of land-use change could follow in Southeast Asia’s footsteps.

Trans-Gabon Railway (at Lopé) - with few paved roads away from the coast, Gabon's only railway is currently the easiest way to access its interior. Road travel becomes near impossible during the wet season in this region.

 

Gabon is a rarity in the 21^st century, in that, thanks to its forests, it absorbs far more carbon than it emits. The global importance of Gabon’s natural landscape has not gone unnoticed by the international community, who, through the Central African Forest Initiative, are now starting to pay the Gabonese government to ensure the protection of their forests. I argue that, whilst  Gabon’s immense forest cover carries out a vital carbon-mitigating role on a global scale, the regional significance that its forests hold for the regulation of the water cycle is just as important a consideration for the security of fresh water supplies across Africa and the predictability of weather patterns.

 

RAINforest

“Despite its climatic importance, The Congo Basin is critically understudied”

 

The extent of ecosystem destruction and the depletion of carbon sinks is well documented. We know comparatively little, however, about the explicit links between forest cover, precipitation patterns and the scarcity/availability of water resources, particularly with respect to Africa and the Congo Basin. Research now suggests that forests are important for the regulation and provision of terrestrial water sources across Africa, in addition to being a tool for mitigating against global climate change. 

 

The rainforests of the Congo Basin are imperative for the provision of rainfall and fresh water supply at a local, close-regional and continental scale. The Basin is estimated to provide up to 17% of the moisture in West Africa; regulated by seasonal, large-scale tropical monsoon circulation. Evapotranspiration from the Basin also contributes to 30-40% of rainfall across the Ethiopian Highlands, demonstrating its influence across the continent. This rainfall creates terrestrial water sources that are vital for farming practices and the wellbeing of local people. At a local scale, rainfall is a significant determinant in the success of Gabon’s agricultural sector, as is sea-level rise (due to climate change) on the majority of the (coastal) population and the fishing industry. Furthermore, chemical spill-over from the timber industry is a significant pollutant of Gabon’s fresh water supplies, stressing the importance of improved management.

 

It is important to understand how climate change impacts these tropical forests. Even now, unpredictable rainfall patterns are pushing the margins of African rainforests towards a threshold. Low rainfall, specifically during the dry season, starves tropical forest boundaries of water, creating savannah-like landscapes at the forest edge. Thus, changes in rainfall patterns, regulated by feedback cycles, can influence both the composition and distribution of tropical forest. Drying trends across The Basin over recent years risks affecting the 'water pump' service its forests provide. Similar effects have been well documented in The Amazon Basin in South America, where scientists warn of a forest 'die-back'. Thus, land-use change and the loss of rainforest, in combination with climate change, will not only affect terrestrial water supply, but, irregularity of rainfall will create increasingly unpredictable episodes of flooding and droughts in West Africa.

The forest edge

The Congo Basin no doubt acts as a fundamental global carbon sink, but the importance of forests as an asset for adaptation and landscape restoration on a local and regional scale, via the regulation of the water cycle, should not be overlooked. The maintenance of Gabonese rainforest is an adaptive helpline to combat and stabilise increasingly inconsistent rainfall patterns, that perpetuate issues of water access across Africa. To end on positive news from COP26, Gabon is one of the 105 countries promising to halt and reverse deforestation by the end of this decade.