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As is the case over the entire world, the rainforest around the equator in Central Africa is threatened by logging. Fast profit is in competition here with a strategy that aims to provide more for the local population in the long-term. The latter is really a matter of life and death for the people, such as the pygmies, who are directly dependent on the forest. Moreover, the population is growing and, with the exception of the pygmies, people regard the jungle differently from western peoples. They see it as land where you can't build anything, that you can't or scarcely can travel through, where at the best it is possible to hunt some bush meat. They cannot 'afford' our view of forestry management.
There is some sustainable forestry (more wood with the FSC quality mark is an example), but the scale of this is not yet comparable with the rate of deforestation. The worst scenario for the tropical rainforest is that it will eventually simply disappear. Another variation is that it could be protected, but still utilized economically. There are conservationists who claim that it would be a positive move if 10% of the existing forest could actually receive protected status as a national park.
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