Guinea-Bissau’s plan to lift logging ban sparks fears for forests

Government proposal to lift moratorium raises concern among activists who fear a return to 2012-2015 timber felling.

For centuries, forests have been central to the life of people throughout Guinea-Bissau. Relying on traditional knowledge systems that vary across the country’s villages, many local communities consider forests to be spiritual spaces where secular ceremonies are performed, the use of natural resources is restrained and the cutting and selling of trees is strictly forbidden. Guinea-Bissau is approximately 70 percent forested, but the pillaging of resources in recent years has endangered the country’s natural reserves and the stock of some of its most valuable species of timber. One of the largest threats to its forests emerged in 2012 when a coup weakened the central government’s authority. This led to a period of illegal cutting of timber that saw most of the country’s forests being targeted but sacred forests remaining largely untouched.