Dynamics and determinants of forest cover changes in the inner Congo basin

Mangaza Nondo, Lisette; Batsi, Germain; Peroches, Adrien; Masson, Claire; Sonwa, Denis Jean; Lhoest, Simon; Makana, Jean-Remy; Hubau, Wannes; Lejeune, Philippe; Fayolle, Adeline

doi:10.1016/j.tfp.2025.101126

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Dynamics and determinants of forest cover changes in the inner Congo basin

Mangaza Nondo, Lisette; Batsi, Germain; Peroches, Adrien et al.

2026 • In Trees, Forests and People, 23, p. 101126

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10.1016/j.tfp.2025.101126

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Keywords :

Central Africa; Deforestation and forest degradation; Crop; Small-scale agriculture; Tropical forest; Remote sensing; Demography

Abstract :

[en] Massive deforestation and forest degradation have been observed in the inner Congo basin in the last decades. While agricultural expansion onto forest land is widely recognized as the main driver of deforestation, local dynamics and social drivers remain understudied. This study investigates both the forest cover dynamics monitored from satellite products and the agricultural practices from household interviews across the Tshopo, the largest province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). We combined satellite-based forest cover data (Tropical Moist Forest dataset, 1990–2023) with household surveys (n = 850) around Kisangani, the provincial capital, and up to 150 km along the six main road axes. Between 1990 and 2023, 9.7 % of mature tropical moist forest — corresponding to 1905,800 ha — was lost across the Tshopo province, being deforested, degraded, or disturbed. Deforestation accelerated since 2010, and the spatial pattern indicates urban expansion, and agricultural encroachment into forests. Household interviews confirm that small-scale farming is the dominant agricultural system in the region (94 % of respondents), with fields mostly installed on fallow land. The food crops such as cassava, rice, maize and bananas are predominant and perennial crops such as oil palms, cocoa and coffee are less common. Geographical and production factors, namely proximity to Kisangani city and household economic capital, are the main determinants of agricultural practices in the Tshopo. Although individual smallscale farming has a limited impact on forest cover (only 11 % of food crop fields and 8 % of perennial crop plantations are established on mature forest lands), the cumulative effect of seasonal land conversion is substantial. Household-level deforestation (349 ha per cropping season for 850 households) extrapolated to approximately 195,000 ha of mature forest cleared annually across the province. Given the high level of human impact and poverty in the region, it is crucial to promote sustainable agricultural practices that increase productivity without encroaching on mature forests, considering the diversity of producer profiles, in a context of high instability.

Disciplines :

Agriculture & agronomy
Environmental sciences & ecology
Phytobiology (plant sciences, forestry, mycology...)

Author, co-author :

Mangaza Nondo, Lisette ; Université de Liège - ULiège > TERRA Research Centre

Batsi, Germain

Peroches, Adrien

Masson, Claire

Sonwa, Denis Jean

Lhoest, Simon ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département GxABT > Gestion des ressources forestières

Makana, Jean-Remy

Hubau, Wannes

Lejeune, Philippe ; Université de Liège - ULiège > TERRA Research Centre > Gestion des ressources forestières

Fayolle, Adeline ; Université de Liège - ULiège > TERRA Research Centre > Gestion des ressources forestières ; CIRAD - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement ; UM - Université de Montpellier > Forêts et Sociétés, CIRAD

Language :

English

Title :

Dynamics and determinants of forest cover changes in the inner Congo basin

Publication date :

January 2026

Journal title :

Trees, Forests and People

eISSN :

2666-7193

Publisher :

Elsevier BV

Volume :

Pages :

101126

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Tags :

ForestIsLife

Additional URL :

https://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S2666719325003528?httpAccept=text/xml

Data Set :

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tfp.2025.101126

Supplementary materials : Supplementary material associated with this article can be found, in the online version, at doi:10.1016/j.tfp.2025.101126. Data availability : Data will be made available on request.

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