More than 80% of Gabon is covered with forest, which contains some 8,000 known plant species (as many as 20% of which are found nowhere else on the planet) as well as almost 200 mammal and 600 bird species.
Gabon is the wealthiest nation in the Congo Basin region, having exploited substantial oil and mineral reserves. More than 80% of the country is covered with forest, which contains some 8,000 known plant species (as many as 20% of which are found nowhere else on the planet) as well as almost 200 mammal and 600 bird species.
The overall population of Gabon is around one million people, two-thirds of whom live below the poverty line. The forests are home to various groups of ‘Pygmy' people, including the Baka (in the north on the border with Cameroon), the Babongo (in the south on the border with Congo) and the Bakoya (in the east).
Rates of outright deforestation have been very low, but most of the country has been affected by commercial logging. Virtually all the forests in the western third of the country have already been logged at least once, and most of the country's remaining forests are designated for exploitation by logging companies.
Gabon created 13 national parks in 2002, and is often now feted as one of the world leaders in nature conservation, though the value of these protected areas to local people is not clear.
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