Roads to Ruin
The emerging impacts of infrastructure development in the Congo Basin forests
While deforestation in the Congo Basin has typically been attributed to local farming practices and population growth, the broader impacts of industrial logging and large-scale development projects have received relatively little attention.
A new report by RFUK reveals the growing extent, and impact, of transport and energy infrastructure development in the Congo Basin - which is on its way to becoming a major driver of deforestation in the world’s second largest rainforest.
While few could deny the region needs development, our research has found that projects often lack transparency, fail to bring benefits to local and national populations, and have chronic failures in social and environmental safeguard systems, which are already causing harm.
Impacts of infrastructure development
The eight case studies featured in this report show that, while certain projects may bring some economic benefits, environmental and social impacts have been overwhelmingly higher than necessary due to bad planning, corruption, failure to follow better practice, and simple negligence.
The absence of community tenure rights and land-use planning frameworks, as well as inadequate consideration of the true costs of these projects – including the cumulative effects that can manifest well beyond the project itself – are also major contributing factors.
International donors and investors have been far too willing to turn a blind eye to evident problems with the projects – even when they contradict their own safeguards and policies.
The case studies below detail flaws in the current approach to energy and infrastructure development in the Congo Basin, and the impacts of ongoing projects already visible in tree cover loss, habitat fragmentation, uncontrolled migration to primary forest areas, and displacement.
36,100 hectares have been deforested as a result of the Lom Pangar Dam, and the failure to clear the reservoir before flooding has also caused the release of around 7 million tonnes of CO2 from decaying trees.
Case Study Factsheets
Click on the thumbnails or points on the map for more information.
Mbalam-Nabeba project, Cameroon and Republic of Congo
Kribi port, Cameroon
Mekin Dam, Cameroon
Lom Pangar and Nachtigal Dams, Cameroon
Doba-Kribi Oil Pipeline, Chad and Cameroon
Pointe Noire-Ouesso Pipeline, Republic of Congo
Chollet Dam, Republic of Congo and Cameroon
Pro-Routes, DRC
The direct impacts of infrastructure projects on forests are already evident, while the long-term cumulative impacts from associated projects and illegal forest exploitation are likely to be significant.
Unreported forest loss between 2016-2019, using a 10km bandwith centred along the Beni-Kisangani Road of the World Bank Pro-Routes Project. Source: Hansen/UMD/Google/USGS/NASA and Planet Imagery
The experience of infrastructure-linked deforestation in the Amazon serves as a warning sign of the future impacts in the Congo Basin - a region far more populated and connected.
Deforestation linked to infrastructure in the Brazilian Amazon. Source: Conrado da Cruz et al. ( 2021) https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11056-020-09777-3/figures/2
There is little sign that policy-makers are seriously considering this threat however, as the international community continues to invest billions in REDD+ programmes , nature-based solutions schemes and strictly protected areas without taking into account the potential impacts from overlapping infrastructure projects.
Existing and proposed jurisdictional REDD+ programmes and infrastructure projects in Cameroon and the Republic of Congo. Source: Rainforest Foundation UK, Forest Carbon Partnership Facility
To read the full report and our recommendations for governments, donors and the private sector, see here .
