Deforestation

[James]

I want to research deforestation in West Africa.

Who should I talk to about that?

[Tom]

James,

What type of information are you looking for (statistics, history, trends, etc)? For what purpose? Let me know and I may be able to offer some info and direction.

[James]

I'm interested on the impact that djembe's popularity is having on the forests and what we need to know about...

I think there's definitely widespread ignorance or the effects of drums on the nature in West Africa.
I will be the first to put up my hand and say I'm ignorant, which makes me think that it would be worth exploring and learning about.

Statistics would be good, I'm interested in hearing from people who first hand experience, perhaps like yourselves?

James

[Dugafola]

I recall a discussion about this...dunno if it was on this site or another.

but one point i remember is that instrument making is a tiny fraction compared to the amount of wood exported as furniture.

[michi]

I found this video on YouTube:



Starting at 6:00 in Part 3, there is a section that talks about deforestation.

I'm not sure whether the problem of djembe deforestation is real. I couldn't find any hard data on deforestation in West Africa due to djembes as opposed to other uses of wood, say for construction or furniture.

Personally, I suspect that djembes contribute only a very minor amount to deforestation, simply because the demand is minuscule compared to other uses of wood.

Cheers,

Michi.

[Michel]

Hi,

Great that someone is taking the responsability to figure this out. I've been told stories about this subject during my trips to Mali. Especially last year when I was asking Sidiki Camara about the possibility to obtain a big djembé, like the ones been used in the old days. Adama Dramé style. He told me that it gets harder every year to find trees suitable for bigger size djembé's. We visited a carver in Bamako who told us that nowadays its very hard to find the right wood. The circle around Bamako in which they can find wood is getting bigger and bigger and they sometimes even go out in the night to avoid contacts with rangers who are there to protect the woods... Djembéfola present during this conversation confirmed this tendencies, everybody had their own experiences. Containers full of drums are transported around the world. And everybody visiting West-African countries remembers all the djembé's taken by tourists which you see when they unload the plane... Most of the times ending up as a piece of furniture. How many drums can you make out of one tree?
Related to this is the story I heard about the lack of goatskin in Conakry one year, because 'some americans' were looking for about 20.000 in one buy.... True, it's a story, but when there's smoke....
Thanks for taking this up. I know Sidiki is very concerned about this. I could contact him to see if he has more info on the subject.

Michiel

[Tom]

James,

In 2004 when I first traveled from Conakry to Kindia, a city which about a hundred miles in the interior, I noticed that most of the land was barren until you arrived at Kindia. When I began asking questions I discovered that most of the drum makers in Conakry could remember taking trees from the area immediately around Conakry. They complained that Chinese owned companies were making things more difficult for them to get good wood because they were clear cutting forests at such a fast pace. The more I looked into it the more it seemed as if the wood exporters were in a race to get as much wood out of Guinea before the government clamped down on exportation. I visited a couple of sites where they were loading the wood on ships. The sites were hidden from view from the street, and everything about the operations looked clandestine. One thing that was disturbing is the fact that they were sending whole trees, merely stripped of their branches. That means very little labor on the Guinea side, and therefore little gain for Guineans. They were also clear cutting forests instead of selective cutting.

I believe it was in 2008 that the government stopped the export of raw wood and of furniture, and in general there is more control over the cutting of wood. But they left thousands of acres barren. When I spoke to some of the local furniture builders in Conakry they said that the Chinese basically took all of the tek wood, which they consider the most valuable. I did see a couple of small pieces of tek. It is a beautiful wood (I believe tek is basically the same thing as teak, but I'm not sure).

But what I see as the biggest problem is coal production. Nearly everyone in Guinea cooks with coal, and the coal producers take everything down to the smallest sapling. It is currently the biggest threat. I've seen countless tracts of smoldering land which have been burnt by the coal producers. When i looked at the statistics online it clearly shows coal production as the number one use of wood in Guinea. I will try to find that site again and then send the link to you.

Djembe production in Guinea is relatively small, especially in comparison to furniture production. You see hundreds of furniture making and vending shops in Conakry, and by my estimate there are only seven or eight significant drum building shops (over 100 drums per year) and approximately fifteen to twenty small shops (50 to 100 drums per year). Most of the djembe production in Guinea is very slow. Trees are felled by hand axe and formed by hand tools (www.earthtribepercussion.com has photos showing a couple of the Wula carvers in action). Forest roads are few and very difficult to travel, so usually the 50 to 75 pound rough shells are hand carried out of the forest at long distances. Also, trees are cut selectively, which allows the surrounding forest to live on. Eventually the work will become more mechanized and efficient, but I believe there will also be more restrictions and replanting requirements put into place. We have a replanting program ourselves, and our intention (once a stable government is in place) is to get involved in the organizing and planning process for the control of deforestation and reforestation. There are hopeful signs. About four years ago the forestry ministry replanted thousands of tek trees in the Kindia area. I believe I have some photos which I took two years ago.I will try to dig them up and send them to you.

Another issue is drum exporters who buy from carvers that take trees from government protected forests. These carvers bribe the forest guardians in order to enter the forest and take wood. The wood is cheaper and easier to get, so this tends to happen a lot. To avoid buying a djembe made from illegally cut wood, drum dealers and buyers should buy from a trusted source, and one that does not buy from a middlemen. I have always respected Kangaba (Mali) because they cut their own wood and they have a reforestation program; and through their website you can track the drum from the source. Kangaba was an inspiration to me as I built our drum making operation in Guinea. In the future, and as drum buyers become more aware of how there purchase effects the environment, I believe that more buyers will insist on knowing where their drum came from and if it was harvested legally.

If what I wrote raises any question, just let me know and I'll try to answer them.

[Dugafola]

Good stuff Tom. Thanks.

[Paul]

I believe its hard to get a good calabash these days.... and im running out