Congo controls its deforestation rate - official

18 Juin 2020

Brazzaville, Congo, June 18 (Infosplusgabon) - The Congolese minister of Tourism and Environment, Arlette Soudan-Nonault, said here Tuesday Congo was controlling its deforestation rate.

Peaking on the occasion of the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, the minister said in a statement that desertification was not only the advance of the Sahara Desert or the drought in the Sahel.

“It is also, and above all, land degradation, wherever it occurs,” he said.

“Let us also beware of believing, in these times when we are all together fighting the coronavirus, that this day is only a parenthesis. As the United Nations rightly says, soil deterioration is one of the main environmental factors in emerging epidemics of infectious diseases. This means that the societal, health and ecological stakes of this theme are vital for humanity," said Soudan-Nonault.

He said by 2050, the planet would be populated by ten billion people, while one-third of the world's arable land and two-thirds of Africa's land was degraded and might soon be unsuitable for cultivation.

Soudan-Nonault gave reasons for this situation, citing deforestation when trees are cut down, and earth is eroded, causing landslides.

“The rain does not seep in, the soil dries out. Secondly, poorly managed farming deteriorates the soil to the detriment of life.”

Climate, biodiversity, and desertification are three pieces of the same puzzle, and land quality is both a threat and a solution for climate and biodiversity, he said.

“The Congo, our country, was able to measure this threat very early on. President Denis Sassou N'Guesso, a pioneering head of state in the defense of the environment on the continent, was at the origin of the National Tree Day and under his impetus, the government is working on the elaboration of a land-use plan, in order to rationally and sustainably manage the state domain.

"Everyone knows, moreover, that our deforestation rate is under control, which protects us from the droughts that hit the Sahelian space where massive soil degradation phenomena occur, which in some East African countries represent an annual cost equivalent to 15% of their GDP. But let's not think we are exempt from our duty to be vigilant," she warned.

The minister said in Congo too, the uncontrolled occupation of land was a source of often devastating erosion during the rainy season.

“The construction of infrastructure and industrial activities without prior environmental impact studies is damaging the Congolese soil and biodiversity.

“The quality of land is a public good, the loss of which is irreversible on a human scale," the minister said.

She said that while it took 25 years to destroy a layer of topsoil, it took a hundred thousand years for it to form.

“Yet, the process of desertification, which directly affects our food security, is not inevitable, because we need enough arable land to meet our needs... The constantly repeated speeches on poverty, food security, water, and energy will be in vain if we do not decide to preserve together with the only element at the heart of these three fundamental issues: the land”.

"More than ever in this year 2020, we see how much our planet is a village and how interdependent we all are. So let's protect this Congolese land to which we belong as much as it belongs to us,” the minister said.

FIN/ INFOSPLUSGABON/ILM/GABON2020

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