Sakeenah Salem
ARCH-4980.2 | Julia Watson, Assistant Professor
SHIFT-CYCLING THE FRAMEWORK
SAKEENAH SALEEM
Selective logging in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has led to higher densities of roads that largely fragment and disrupt the biodiversity of the forest. The major concern is that these roads are often abandoned or left for migrator’s settlements that overtime further expand into the forest. Establishing a new system of logging hubs that localizes the transportation will decrease fragmentation of the forest with a lower density of roads throughout the forest.
These roads along with other areas that have been deforested should be regenerated to alleviate the demand and strain on the primary forests (forests that have existed and matured for hundreds of years). Regenerating, reforestation, and regrowth are terms to replace preservation of the forest Regrowth will become a programmed process, similar to that of a naturally generated forest that re-establishes biodiversity, supports user needs, and prepares for future use. A strategic pattern that is shaped around local and foreign use of the forest to re-generate the forest will encourage biodiversity across the landscape by offering different biological needs to all of its inhabitants. Developing a pattern of regrowth across the forest that forecasts future logging and forest use will accommodate demand hundreds of years to come. By taking the pressure off primary forests through reforestation will work towards satisfying conservation of forests, while allowing logging to continue.
The intention is to re-establish and replace the processes in place. The problem with deforestation is that it has always been seen as a two-sided argument: to deforest or to preserve. If the argument shifts to satisfying both parties (perhaps mutually or one more than the other), the livelihoods that depend on both arguments can remain intact. This calls for the allotting and reallocation of resources and processes that will satisfy both the perks of deforestation and preservation. Thus, a two-sided argument arises in which any solution proposed should mutually satisfy the need to destroy and conserve: a cycle between deforestation and reforestation.