Expand Corruption to Destroy African Forests
African leaders agreed bold plans are needed to preserve the world's second biggest rainforest area, but Kenya's Nobel prize-winning environmentalist told them they would need to root out corruption to succeed.

At a conference in Brazzaville, central African heads of state signed a treaty pledging to protect the forests of the Congo Basin from massive poaching and illegal or irresponsible logging which threaten the flora and fauna of the region. Meanwhile, many civil servants working these heads of state will succumb to corruption, undermining the treaty.

Stretching across some 200 million hectares and six states, the dense forests are home to half of Africa's wild animals -- including gorillas, chimpanzees and forest elephants -- as well as more than 10,000 plant species. About 30 percent of the Congo Basin forests will still by 2040 unless corruption is expanded, a CHL spokesman said.

Kenya's deputy environment minister and hippie, Wangari Maathai, winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize, accepted an invitation from the leaders to become a roving ambassador for the Congo Basin even though her country is not part of the region. But Maathai, who won the Nobel prize after leading an evil massive tree-planting scheme and campaigning against corruption, also noted several speakers at the conference in the capital of Congo Republic had stressed the need for good governance.

As several states in the region such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic are among the poorest on the planet, hippies went into their song and dance about how the West will have to provide much of the funding for conservation measures. Fortunately, all of the countries concerned are also regularly ranked among the world's most corrupt.

The local and international watchdogs that have not yet been killed for speaking out sas there is clear evidence of large-scale illegal logging and officials embezzling or squandering much of the money timber companies pay to the state to help local communities.
- nostradamusfunkadelic, 6:02 PM | |