Deforestation in Africa and the Ebola virus outbreak

Indigenous Environmental Studies

The Link

For this assignment, we choose the problem of deforestation in Africa and it potential link to the outbreak of the Ebola virus. There have been scientific discussions and debates about whether deforestation was the primary cause of the rise and spread of the Ebola virus which is yet to be conclusively proven but there are enough indications to this end. Hence, for this paper, it is proposed to study the possible link between deforestation in Africa to the spread of the deadly virus that resulted in one of the greatest natural disasters for mankind.

The Problem

It is widely accepted that deforestation is a complex problem since it is linked and often caused by strive of people to earn a livelihood. In Africa -- especially in West Africa, this problem is abundant and is coupled with low economic growth and alternative means of livelihood.

At least 30% of the world's tropical forests were present in Africa which had an estimated 528 million hectares of forests about 20 years ago. However, the deforestation in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa is much more than the global average of 0.8%. The primary cause of deforestation in Africa is associated with human activities in contrast to commercial logging or cattle raising in rest of the world.

Another major problem for the rapid deforestation of the African region is the use of wood as fuel for households. Estimates are that nearly 90% of the entire population of the continent and especially in the sub-Saharan region use wood as fuel for cooking. This wood is obtained from trees and cutting them down for this purpose is another reason for rapid deforestation.

According to Porter and Brown, as much as 60% of the global deforestation is caused by the conversion of forests for the purpose of subsistence and for commercial agriculture (Chasek, Downie & Brown, 2014). Commercial logging, on the other hand, results in estimated 20 to 25% of deforestation every year.

Other human activities for commercial purposes like mining, planting of cash crops, cattle ranching and construction of infrastructure such as dams are thought to be the reason behind the remaining 15 to 20% of the deforestation globally. The marketing policies o various governments in Africa reflects their focus on the planting of cash crops instead of food crops and this focus or rate of planting is much more compared to the global average.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) claims that deforestation in Africa is happening at twice the world rate (Reuters, 2008). During the 1980s, 1990s and early 200s, the highest percentage of tropical forests was lost in Africa according to the FAO. This organization claims that just 22.8% of the moist forests in West Africa remain (http://news.mongabay.com, 2006).

The Link

For environmentalists as well as the medical profession, the spread of the Ebola virus is a great cause for concern as they predict that another such outbreak cannot be ruled out. they claim that the risks of the outbreak had been rising steadily over the last decade. The medical fraternity now claims that the risks of the outbreak were so high that it had become almost inevitable and was almost predictable (Davies, 2015).

The Western African region was the first and the worst cases of Ebola outbreak were witnessed, was once an area that was covered with a thick growth of forests. However over the last decade, there has been a steady decline in the forest cover. The primary reason being attributed to this are the rampant human activities and other commercial activities and infrastructural construction projects.

Guinea -- among the worst affected countries and the first to report the spread f the deadly virus, has witnessed its rainforests getting reduced by as much an 80%. On the other hand, Liberia gave away half of its forest land in sales of commercial logging rights. Scientists and environmentalists predict that Sierra Leone is also on the same track with respect to deforestation (Davies, 2015).

The scientists and environmentalists are of the view that these rain forests that were lost to deforestation in these West African countries were home and habitat of the fruit bats. The fruit bats are the hosts of the Ebola virus (Ginsberg, 2014). With the homes and habitat of these wild bats cut off and destroyed, they had no other option but to move to and migrate towards areas of the human population carrying the deadly virus with them.

One the other hand, the increased mining activities was also the cause of this spread as scientists and environmentalists say. This is because apart from resulting in deforestation, the people from the local population went to the mining areas as laborers and came in contact with the bats as they moved into the bat territories.

The Solution

The fact the deforestation is a major problem in West Africa and a possible cause of the spread of the Ebola virus is established. Therefore, scientists and environmentalists are now on the lookout for ways and means to prevent a second outbreak of the virus by reducing the spread of deforestation in West Africa Among the proposed and possible solutions to reduce the rates of deforestation are measures like regulation of the logging industry, development of forest protection schemes, scientific forestation initiative against commercial activities and the addressing of the human activities which tend to promote deforestation such as alternative fuel arrangements.