This crisis goes beyond the environment. At its heart are questions about control: who gets to decide what Africa’s land is used for, and who profits when the forests fall? With promises of infrastructure and investment, international actors have gained increasing influence over African land decisions, often prioritizing exports and raw material access over the needs of local communities.
In a conversation with Global South Pole, Tajudeen Okekunle Amusa, a professor of Forest Resources Management at the University of Ilorin, Nigeria, and a research fellow at the Federal University of Paraná in Curitiba, Brazil, reflected on this reality. He explained that deforestation in Africa had become deeply linked to global demand, especially for agricultural exports and critical minerals. According to him, these activities were no longer just local responses to poverty or population growth but part of a broader economic model that positioned African forests as sites of extraction for wealthier nations.
He pointed out that foreign-backed projects, including large-scale farming, logging, mining, and infrastructure corridors, had accelerated forest loss across countries such as Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. In numerous instances, these projects were promoted in the name of economic growth, but often resulted in the displacement of local populations and irreversible environmental damage.
“The global demand for agricultural products […] has incentivized large-scale land clearing in countries like Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon. […] The same thing applies to mining and the general extractive industry. The race to acquire critical minerals for developmental activities, all of which are fueling massive deforestation in Africa. And there are foreign companies, particularly from the European Union, [and] the US, that are heavily interested and have invested in all of this,” Prof. Amusa stressed.
To listen to the whole conversation, tune in to the Global South Pole podcast, brought to you by Sputnik Africa.
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