Theory question 108
Geography of Africa(a) Highlight three factors which favour lumbering in either Zaire or Côte d'Ivoire (b) Describe the method of lumbering in one of the countries chosen in 8(a) above (c) Outline four problems associated with lumbering in Africa.
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(a) Large areas of equatorial rain forest with valuable hardwoods (mahogany, ebony, sapele, iroko, limba); rivers (Congo and tributaries, or Bandama, Comoé) for floating logs; ports (Matadi, Boma; Abidjan, San Pedro); demand in Europe; cheap labour; government concessions and foreign capital; modern machines.
(b) Concession areas are surveyed and valuable trees marked; undergrowth cleared and trees felled with power saws (or axes); branches removed and trunks cut into logs; logs dragged by tractors or bulldozers to roads; carried by lorries or floated down rivers to sawmills or ports; sawn into planks, veneer and plywood or exported as logs.
(c) Trees of one species scattered, not in pure stands; hardwoods very heavy, many sink and cannot be floated; dense undergrowth and swampy ground; poor roads; rapids and waterfalls on rivers; heavy rain and diseases; shortage of capital and skilled labour; deforestation and slow regrowth.
Choose one country and keep the examples to it.