1. The magnitude of its surface area still covered by tropical forest. According to recent estimates, central Africa's "approximate original extent of closed tropical moist forests" was 3,132,360 sq. km. Yet, only between 1,645,073 and 1,704,670 sq. km. remain. This equals between 59% and 54.4%.19 These figures, however, are subject to some debate because given the evolution in very long-term climatic conditions, the meaning of "approximate original extent of closed tropical moist forest" is variable.
2. The proximity between cities and forest regions. Depending on the city, distances vary considerably. The forest is at the threshold of Libreville, for example, but hundreds of kilometres from Kinshasa. Distance, however, cannot be considered without taking into account transportation networks or the time factor. Forest products converge in urban areas via an extremely dense web of road, rail and river arteries. Throughout central Africa, every imaginable means of transportation from canoe to helicopter is used in this commerce. When it comes to bush meat, for example, the point is capital. The very different repercussions of how the time and space factors converge give added support to the importance of studying the forest-city interface through a country-comparative approach.
3. The creation of the far-reaching ECOFAC programme financed by the European Development Fund (FED), aimed at the conservation and rational use of central Africa's forest eco-systems.20 While primarily involved in the management of central Africa's protected areas, people associated with ECOFAC have communicated firm support for the need to understand urban influences on conservation to members of our research team. Their interest in the forest-city interface results in part from the illegal killing of protected area wildlife which ends up in urban markets.
4. The fact that unlike in North America or Asia, attitudes concerning forest management are still relatively flexible. It is not too late to work with local leaders: sharing information, sponsoring and organising public awareness and educational campaigns while emphasising the economic and cultural importance which city dwellers attach to their relationship with the forest.
On the organisational level, contacts were made with researchers throughout central Africa in the very early stages of project definition. Responses and feedback were especially positive and timely from Yaoundé, Kinshasa and Libreville, where, moreover, the Centre of Cultural Anthropology has a long-standing tradition of research collaboration. Co-operation agreements already exist with the University of Yaoundé, the Omar Bongo University in Libreville and the University of Kinshasa. The interest expressed by local academics (many of whom are affiliated with these institutions) for this area of study is witnessed by recent developments in research efforts. In the past, they have either taken it for granted or minimised its importance as a priority research subject. Serious social scientific work, however, has now commenced. (The crucial role which these researchers can play in forest conservation is expanded below in section 7.2.)
Another very encouraging factor is support coming from Cameroon. The
ECOFAC co-ordinator based in Cameroon has recognised the need to
take the human factor of forest conservation into account, as well
the urban dimension of reserve management. ECOFAC Cameroon now has
a base in Yaoundé, which was not foreseen at the programme's
creation. Specific attention has been given to the role of young urban
"unemployed" who are active in the bush meat trade. In the
Dja Reserve concrete efforts are being taken to maintain local populations
on their traditional lands while introducing possibilities for alternative
means of earning cash. The all-too-frequent policy of exacting repressive
measures against poachers, applied in other ECOFAC areas, has thus
been abandoned.
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