How Demand for Twigs Is Bringing Down a Rainforest

Photo by Ashley Gilbertson / VII for The New York Times. A kiln for making charcoal along a Congo River tributary. The charcoal is widely used for cooking.

“In the Congo River Basin, people who collect bundles of wood to make charcoal are playing a surprisingly large role in the deforestation of a region that rivals the Amazon in importance.”

For The New York Times, writer Dionne Searcey and VII photographer Ashley Gilbertson reported from the Mpatemata Forest community, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, to understand the far-reaching effects of the charcoal trade on deforestation.

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