Mere bags of salt, machetes and bicycles are being used to exploit the greatest assets of the Congolese inhabitants, their exceptional rain forests. A small group of European and American industrial logging companies have obtained vast tracts of the world’s second-largest rainforest in lieu of mere trifles.

After years of war and strife democratic elections were held in Democratic Republic of Congo in June 2006. A democratic order was expected to conserve the vast natural resources that have been a bone of contention between the warring parties, however, just the opposite is happening. Logging contracts awarded during the times when the country was in the midst of a civil strife are now being enforced.

In the past three years, more than 150 contracts involving an area of dense rainforest equal in size to that of United Kingdom have been signed with 20 companies in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Timber companies from Germany, Portugal, Belgium, Singapore and the US are stripping the 21 million hectares (52 million acres) of lush evergreen rainforest, mainly to extract African teak. This teak, widely used for flooring, furniture and doors fetches a price of about £ 500 a cubic meter in Britain.

A Greenpeace expose shows how the World Bank is responsible for encouraging logging in Congo. The World Bank is using its influence to impose strategies for economic development. Strategies that hope to bring about development at the cost of exploiting Congo’s rich natural resources. Timber exports are expected to fetch much needed foreign exchange that would be ploughed to kick start the countries war torn economy. Greenpeace has pointed out that industrial logging as the basis for development in Congo is far off the mark.

Not a single penny of taxes paid by the logging companies has gone to benefit any of the local communities that are in dire need of basic health and educational infrastructure. Alleviation of poverty seems to be a far-fetched dream as the money fills up pockets of corrupt officials. In exchange for timber worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, logging companies are able to sway the communities with gifts such as bags of salt, crates of beer worth less than US$100 and blank promises to build schools and hospitals. Many contracts were illegally allotted in 2002 by a transition government that was installed after the country had been through a decade of civil wars. These contracts are in defiance of a World Bank moratorium.

Does the World Bank consider this as sustainable development? 50 million people rely on the Congo rainforest for food, shelter and livelihoods. What will they do if these forests were to disappear?

While many countries take strong measures to preserve the ecosystems in there countries, are Congo’s rain forests as easily expendable? Besides, is the world community prepared to barter the survival of rain forests, considered vital for soaking in global carbon emissions and fighting global warming for mere luxuries of human existence?

Rainforests remain some of the world’s most ancient and complex ecosystems. The Democratic Republic of Congo contains 1,352,070 square kilometers (522,037 miles) of natural forests, representing six percent of the world’s tropical forests and more than 47 percent of Africa’s tropical forest areas. Along with the Amazonian rainforest it is an important sink for the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, which is responsible for global warming. Manmade global warming is believed to be playing havoc with our climate.

Their existence and good health is also critical to preserving the world’s biodiversity. Rain forests are the homes of many endemic species, some of which are still being discovered. Many modern food staples like tomatoes, corn, and chocolate have made their way from the rainforest’s into our daily lives. We use a mere fraction of the edible plants available there. Some of the plants found their hold great medicinal potential and maybe one of them could even cure dreaded diseases like AIDS.

The Congolese rainforests are a source of wealth for the local population and a priority region for conservation that needs to be protected and not mutilated. Orderly forest area management is essentially required here; Contracts need to be redone, corruption needs to be ended, laws prohibiting the import of illegal timber need to be made and enforced . More trees need to be planted in areas destroyed by deforestation and more game reserves need to be established in these forests. How can you contribute? Are you aware as to where the timber you are using has come from? Has it come for just a bag of salt?