Logging to help the climate? Gabon turns to its rainforests

Aerial view of stock bulldozer picking up a log in Gabon's Special Economic Zone Log Park, in Nkok, Gabon, October 12, 2021. Picture taken October 12, 2021. Picture taken with a drone. REUTERS/Christophe Van Der Perre

MAYUMBA, Gabon (Reuters) - With its oil reserves in decline, Gabon is betting that careful logging can safeguard the vast wealth of its forests, halving carbon emissions associated with the industry while producing more timber.

How Central African countries like Gabon manage their share of the world's second-largest rainforest is critical. The so-called lungs of Africa store more carbon per hectare than the Amazon, help regulate temperatures, and generate rain for millions in the arid Sahel and distant Ethiopian highlands.