Book Description
Gabon is one of Africa's stablest regimes, its rainforests and rivers are virtually pristine, and it retains nearly 85% of its closed-canopy forest, with some of the most intensively studied floral and faunal systems in the world. However, Gabon faces a number of crucial issues and national choices in balancing responsible conservation of natural resources with human requirements for food, fuel, timber, and land, with consequent impacts on biodiversity, public health, and the channeling of economic resources to global markets. The contributors to this volume link issues of rainforest management, ethnic and national identity, political stability, demographic decline, and postcolonial relations with France and the larger world to show how Gabon embodies in microcosm the forces that have shaped the African continent since independence while also challenging conventional wisdom about African development. ... Read more