Deforestation in Central AfricaThe BaKa and Bambendzele Indigenous People of Central Africa

In the forests of Central Africa, the BaKa and Bambendzele indigenous peoples practice a traditional subsistence lifeway based on hunting and gathering. Often referred to as “pygmies” because they rarely grow taller than five feet, they live mostly in southern and northeastern Gabon, southern Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Congo River basin of Zaire, Equatorial Guinea, and in small numbers in Rwanda, Burundi, and Uganda.

Numbering over 25,000, these guardians of the forest have maintained their traditional lifeway patterns in the face of rapid change. Harboring an intimate knowledge of every square inch of their homeland and its wildlife, the BaKa and Bambendzele indigenous people continue to rely heavily on forest resources for their livelihoods. However, current developmental activities have threatened their traditional lifeway as deforestation, bushmeat hunting, and human migration have caused numerous impacts. Furthermore, persistent discrimination and limited political voice have also created obstacles for the BaKa and Bambendzele indigenous people in maintaining their customary rights and resource use.

For example, in the forests surrounding the village of Mambele in southeast Cameroon and Bomassa in north Congo, the Baka and Bambendzele indigenous people have had to adapt their lifeway to development programs, especially industrial logging. Compounding this is the fact that recent changes in their environment have caused shortages in many traditional resources. Rainfall has become less regular and harder to predict. Women who normally catch fish in barriers built in small streams in the dry season are often unable to achieve traditional fish catches as flood patterns of the rivers are changing. Fire has occurred in forest areas where it has not been observed in the past. The El Niño years of 1983, 1987, and 1997 all coincided with droughts in the forest zone, and fires occurred in forests that had not previously burned in the living memory of these peoples. Crop failures occur when early or dry season rains provoke the germination of seeds, which then die when dry periods in the traditionally wet months occur.

Similarly, in West Africa deforestation linked at least in part to climate change has led to outbreaks of diseases in areas where they had not earlier caused problems. In parts of the Upper Guinea savannas of Ghana and neighboring countries meningitis outbreaks amongst rural people have been linked to climate change.

The area covered by forest in Africa, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization’s State of the World’s Forest Report 2007, was estimated to cover 635 million hectares, making up about 16 percent of the world’s forest area. The net annual loss in the period between 2000 and 2005 was four million hectares per year, which accounts for 55 percent of the world’s total loss in forest area during that period. The distribution of forest cover, however, is very uneven across the different regions in Africa, and a majority of this deforestation has taken place in BaKa and Bambendzele indigenous peoples homeland. Whereas most northern African states including Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Egypt are gaining in area covered by forest according to the report, East and West Africa as well as central African states are loosing significant amounts of forest area. In West and Central Africa, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nigeria together account for most of the loss. The main reason for this rapid loss of forest cover can be found in wildfires which have been especially severe in Angola and in the southern Democratic Republic of Congo as well as in southern Sudan and the Central African Republic. During El Niño years these fires are particularly devastating.

As a result, the BaKa and Bambendzele indigenous peoples are facing several important issues. Continuing deforestation and lack of resources are the biggest impacting their traditional lifeway. Despite this, they continue to maintain their culture as they adapt to the new situation. However, if deforestation continues at the current rate, it may be impossible for the BaKa and Bambendzele indigenous people to utilize the forest for subsistence resources.

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Further Reading

Abbas, Hakima, ed. 2007. Africa's Long Road to Rights: Reflections on the 20th anniversary of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights. Fahamu.

Homewood, Katherine. 2005. Rural Resources and Local Livelihoods in Africa. Palgrave.

Jones, Schuyler. 1987. Pygmies of Central Africa. Hodder Wayland.

Kieh, George Klay, Jr. 2008. Africa and the New Globalization. Ashgate.