By Jean-Rovys Dabany
TRT Afrika, Libreville - Gabon
For years, Libreville-based Gabonese photographer Desirey Minkoh has travelled to many destinations in Gabon aiming to capture the natural beauty of the country through his camera lenses, which he shares on blogs and social networks.
"Through my reports, I highlight Gabon's natural beauty. We have a rich and diverse landscape. As I travelled through our forests, I realised that we have an environment that needs to be preserved and shown to the world", Désirey Minkoh tells TRT Afrika.
For the photographer, the country is not taking full advantage of country's touristic potential.
Desirey argues that the media have only been interested in political squabbles and other scandals for years.
He hopes his work will open the eyes of Gabonese people, helping them to move away from the buzz of urban city to discover the country's breathtaking natural environment.
"Thanks to some of the photos I take, tourism professionals are discovering places they didn't know they could visit," he tells TRT Afrika.
The photographer says he is fed up with clichés showing "a miserable Africa, populated by children with bloated bellies, a continent torn apart by hunger and endless wars".
"The idea is to show Africa differently. It's to say that in Africa, we don't just have financial scandals and hungry children, but that there is something else to show the world", says Désirey.
But the forest in this Central African country, as in many other parts of the world, is threatened by illegal logging and deforestation.
Communities living in the surrounding area cut down trees for their energy needs, for building purposes. Some trees are used for their medicinal properties.
For ecologist Ghislain Moussavou, the Gabonese forest is under pressure.
"Like all other forests around the world. We are losing a lot of forest. Our forests are under pressure that will lead to their degradation in terms of ecosystem losses. These losses are due to activities such as logging, mining, oil extraction and a number of other activities such as agriculture", explains the environmentalist.
According to a study outlining the threats to Gabon's biodiversity published by Mongabay, an international environmental protection organisation, Gabon loses more than 10,000 hectares of forest a year to logging.
To reverse deforestation and protect the forests, authorities are trying to raise community awareness on the importance of preserving the country's trees.
The Sibang Arboretum, a protected area in Libreville, the capital of Gabon, is being used as a model to enable the population to discover trees and the different ecosystems that exist.
Covering an area of 16 hectares, the Sibang Arboretum is home to numerous tree species that are currently being studied.
But even with the efforts being made to preserve Sibang, illegal loggers still find a way to carry out their activities.
Those who fell trees say they are doing so as a necessity.
"These bark samples that I've just taken are to treat a toothache. At the moment, my sister is suffering from a serious toothache," Charlie Abessolo, a Sibang resident, told TRT Afrika.
Since Gabon's independence, the Arboretum has been managed by the Institute of Agricultural and Forestry Research and the Institute of Pharmacopoeia and Traditional Medicine, both of which come under the authority of the Ministry of Scientific Research.
Henri Bourobou, Director of the Institute of Pharmacopoeia and Traditional Medicine, said that without an alternative to wood resources, it would be difficult to stop the felling of trees in Sibang.
"Sibang is surrounded by neighbourhoods that put pressure on it. These populations come to exploit the wood, come to exploit the wood bark", he tells TRT Afrika.
According to researchers, up to 20 per cent of Gabon's plant species exist nowhere else in the world.
The photographer hopes that his work will help save Gabon's forest.
"The only thing to show our children and grandchildren is the wealth that God has given this country. It is up to all of us to fight to preserve our forests. And it's not a job that you do today and stop tomorrow, it has to be done from generation to generation", pleads Désirey Minkoh.
The photographer has won several awards for his work. His most recent award came in November 2023, when he won the 42nd edition of the photo competition, organised by Photo magazine.
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