Six Threats to Central & West African Rainforests Today

1. Logging: Industrial & artisanal—timber, charcoal, fuelwood. Roads open frontier. Major deforestation driver.
2. Agricultural expansion: Cocoa, coffee, oil palm, rubber, cassava. Smallholder + industrial plantations. Forest conversion.
3. Mining: Gold, diamonds, coltan, bauxite, iron ore. Open-pit, alluvial—mercury pollution, habitat destruction.
4. Bushmeat hunting: Unsustainable offtake of mammals (primates, duikers, pangolins). Empty forest syndrome. Zoonotic risk (Ebola, HIV origins).
5. Climate change: Drying trends, increased drought/fire frequency, phenology shifts, species range contractions.
6. Population growth & infrastructure: Urbanization, roads (e.g., Trans-African highways), dams, oil/gas—fragmentation & edge effects.

Synergies

Threats interact: roads → logging → hunting → settlement → fire → degradation. Protected areas alone insufficient; need landscape-scale governance, community rights, sustainable livelihoods, and demand-side measures (certification, trade regulation).