How to Improve the Human Impacts

Despite the bleak outlook on the future of the Rainforest of the Congo Basin, their is still hope if certain actions are taken and maintained. One of the biggest problems in connection with deforestation in the continuation of illegal logging by companies who cut down trees outside of government restrictions (3).  Now, their are two solutions which would reduce the occurrence of this issue, the first solution involving government regulation. It is often corruption in the government that allows this breach in policy to happen, so governments need to remain more vigilant on such logging activities, and auditors need to be active in making sure proper logging activities are taking place. If they are not, the government needs to fine the companies for damages incurred, and if action continues, the international community needs to place penalties on the governments themselves. As a second option, a policy of agroforestry could be substituted in place of current policies (7). Agroforestry allows for trees to be replanted every time one is cut down to allow for a constant number of trees to be present, which is beneficial for both the soil and the native species. It also allows for small scale agriculture to be present in between rows of trees, as seen below.

http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/naturalresources/DD7407.html

Another alternative which could prove beneficial in the maintenance of the forest would be to substitute the mass-scale cut and burn or felling methods of clearing forest with the strip felling technique (7). This technique allows for areas of 50m to be removed at a time, which allows them to regrow naturally through either assistance by the locals in replanting native trees or by the transference of seeds being either blown by the wind or brought in by the feces of native animals. It also allows for their to be even amounts of logging, working one area as the others grow back to be logged again later, as seen below.

http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfp/training/00014/varshel.htm

The people of the Congo river basin are reliant on the forest in many ways, be through the resources provided them by the logging companies (such as health care, employment, and increased income, etc.) or through the direct existence of the forest through tourism (5,6). With the continued loss of forest mounting every year, the peoples in this area are at risk of losing these benefits. The people must be educated in ways that promote continued conservation and maintenance of the forest. They must be taught how to replant trees, how to farm in ways that are less harmful to the soil and to the forest, and also about restricted hunting so that they do not hunt endangered species or those that may soon become endangered. As summed up by Edd Turtle, these people "after all will be the ones managing the rainforest in the future and need to be tought the advantages of sustainable techniques" (7).