Skip to main content
Login
  1. Home
  2. The Field Guide to Mixing Social and Biophysical Methods in Environmental Research
  3. 13. Revealing the social histories of ancient savannas and intact forests using a historical ecology approach in Central Africa
Open Book Publishers

Revealing the social histories of ancient savannas and intact forests using a historical ecology approach in Central Africa

  • Gretchen Walters(author)
  • Olivier Hymas (author)
  • Stevens Touladjan (author)
  • Kevin Ndong (author)
Chapter of: The Field Guide to Mixing Social and Biophysical Methods in Environmental Research(pp. 207–246)
  • Export Metadata
  • Metadata
  • Locations
  • Contributors
  • References

Export Metadata

Metadata
Title Revealing the social histories of ancient savannas and intact forests using a historical ecology approach in Central Africa
ContributorGretchen Walters(author)
Olivier Hymas (author)
Stevens Touladjan (author)
Kevin Ndong (author)
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.11647/obp.0418.13
Landing pagehttps://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0418/chapters/10.11647/obp.0418.13
Licensehttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
CopyrightGretchen Walters; Olivier Hymas; Stevens Touladjan; Kevin Ndong;
PublisherOpen Book Publishers
Published on2025-02-25
Long abstract

Misleading stories about the human causes of environmental degradation are a type of “received wisdom”, which permits researchers, decision-makers and NGOs to leave histories of ecosystems and natural processes unquestioned. In this study, we use a historical ecology approach to understand the social processes shaping an intact forest and an ancient savanna in Gabon. Using historical methods, interviews, and participant observation in relation to the ecology of key plant species in the landscape, we analyse how seemingly intact Okoumé forests were shaped by disease, trade and colonial resettlement policy. We then use these methods to understand the ways in which customary fire has shaped an ancient savanna landscape and its fire-dependent endemic species. Using an interdisciplinary approach enabled us to delve deeply into the social-historical processes shaping these ecosystems in ways that are not possible when using traditional, disciplinary approaches, and so to improve ecosystem-based policies.

Page rangepp. 207–246
Print length40 pages
LanguageEnglish (Original)
Locations
Landing PageFull text URLPlatform
PDFhttps://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0418/chapters/10.11647/obp.0418.13Landing pagehttps://books.openbookpublishers.com/10.11647/obp.0418.13.pdfFull text URL
HTMLhttps://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0418/chapters/10.11647/obp.0418.13Landing pagehttps://books.openbookpublishers.com/10.11647/obp.0418/ch13.xhtmlFull text URLPublisher Website
Contributors

Gretchen Walters

(author)
Associate Professor at University of Lausanne
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9772-232X

Olivier Hymas

(author)
Senior Researcher at University of Lausanne

Stevens Touladjan

(author)
Community Officer at National Agency for National Parks

Kevin Ndong

(author)
Head of the Audiovisual Service at National Agency for National Parks
References
  1. Abitsi, G. 2006. Inventaires de reconnaissance des grands mammifères et de l’impact des activités anthropiques: Parc National de Waka, Gabon (WCS Gabon).
  2. Abitsi, G. and F. Lepemangoye-Mouleka. 2009. Evaluation des zones de hautes priorités pour la conservation dans le corridor Lopé-Waka, Gabon (WCS Gabon).
  3. Aicardi de Saint-Paul, M. 1987. Le Gabon. Du roi Denis a Omar Bongo (Albatros).
  4. Anon. 1996. Second nature (Institute of Development Studies).
  5. Ascher, W. 1979. ‘Problems of forecasting and technology assessment’, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 13.2, pp. 149–156. https://doi.org/10.1016/0040-1625(79)90109-4
  6. Aubréville, A. 1949. Climats, forêts et désertification de l’Afrique tropicale (Société d’éditions géographiques, maritimes et coloniales).
  7. Avelot, M.R. 1905. Recherches sur l’histoire des migrations dans le bassin de l’Ogooue et la région littorale adjacente (Imprimerie Nationale).
  8. Balée, W. 2018. ‘Brief review of historical ecology’, Les Nouvelles de l’Archéologie, 152, pp. 7–10. https://doi.org/10.4000/nda.4150
  9. Balée, W. and C.L. Erickson. 2006. ‘Time, complexity, and historical ecology’, in Time and Complexity in Historical Ecology, ed. by W. Balée and C.L. Erickson (Columbia University Press), pp. 1–17.
  10. Balinga, M., T. Sunderland, G. Walters, Y. Issembe, E. Fombod, and S. Asaha. 2006. A Vegetation Assessment of the Waka National Park, Gabon (Smithsonian Institute).
  11. Benjaminsen, T.A., H. Reinert, E. Sjaastad and M.N. Sara. 2015. ‘Misreading the Arctic landscape: A political ecology of reindeer, carrying capacities, and overstocking in Finnmark, Norway’, Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift—Norwegian Journal of Geography, 69.4, pp. 219–229. https://doi.org/10.1080/00291951.2015.1031274
  12. Berton, J. 1895. ‘De Lastourville sur L’Ogooué à Samba sur le N’gounië (septembre et octobre 1890)’, Bulletin de la société géographie, 7.16, pp. 211–218.
  13. Biwolé, A.B., J. Morin-Rivat, A. Fayolle, D. Bitondo, L. Dedry, K. Dainou, O.J. Hardy, and J.-L. Doucet. 2015. ‘New data on the recent history of the littoral forests of southern Cameroon: an insight into the role of historical human disturbances on the current forest composition’, Plant Ecology and Evolution, 148.1, pp. 19–28. https://doi.org/10.5091/plecevo.2015.1011
  14. Bond, W. and N.P. Zaloumis. 2016. ‘The deforestation story: testing for anthropogenic origins of Africa’s flammable grassy biomes’, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 371.1696. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2015.0170
  15. Bond, W.J. 2016. ‘Ancient grasslands at risk’, Science, 351.6269, pp. 120–122. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aad5132
  16. Brouwer, M. 2021. ‘Certification is the future of the industry’, in Central African Forests Forever, by M. Bouwer (CNPIEC Digital Printing), pp. 36–51.
  17. Bruel, G. 1935. La France Equatoriale Africaine: le pays, les habitants, la colonisation, les pouvoirs publics (Larose).
  18. Bürgi, M., L. Östlund and D.J. Mladenoff. 2017. ‘Legacy effects of human land use: ecosystems as time-lagged systems’, Ecosystems, 20.1, pp. 94–103. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-016-0051-6
  19. Campbell, L.M. 2005. ‘Overcoming obstacles to interdisciplinary research’, Conservation Biology, 19.2, pp. 574–577. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2005.00058.x
  20. du Chaillu, P. 1867. A Journey to Ashango-Land : And Further Penetration into Equatorial Africa (D. Appleton and Company).
  21. du Chaillu, P.B. 1861. Explorations and Adventures in Equatorial Africa; with accounts of the manners and customs of the people, and of the chase of the gorilla, crocodile, leopard, elephant, hippopotamus, and other animals (John Murray).
  22. Chakov, A., Chang, T., Covey, H., Dickson, T., Goggins, S., Harris, N., Purna, S., Widell, S. and Druschke, C.G., Chapter 33, this volume. ‘Oral history’.
  23. Chamberlin, C. 1977. Competition and Conflict: The Development of the Bulk Export Trade in Central Gabon During the Nineteenth Century (University of California, Los Angeles).
  24. Charbonnier, F. 1957. Gabon, terre d’Avenir (Encyclopédie d’Outre-Mer).
  25. Cinnamon, J. 2003. ‘Narrating equatorial African landscapes: conservation, histories, and endangered forests in northern Gabon’, Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History, 4.2. https://doi.org/10.1353/cch.2003.0038
  26. Cinnamon, J. 2010. ‘Counting and recounting: dislocation, colonial demography and historical memory in northern Gabon’, in The Demographics of Empire: The Colonial Order and the Creation of Knowledge, ed. by K. Ittman, D.D. Cordell, and G. Maddox (Ohio University Press), pp. 130–156.
  27. Cinnamon, J.M. 1998. The Long March of the Fang: Anthropology and History in Equatorial Africa (Yale University).
  28. Cope, M., Chapter 22, this volume. ‘Archival methods’.
  29. Coquery-Vidrovitch, C. 2001. Le Congo au temps des grandes compagnies concessionnaires 1898-1930 (Edition de l’EHESS).
  30. Cuvillier-Fleury, H. 1904. La mise en valeur du Congo français (Université de Paris).
  31. Darbellay, F. 2015. ‘Rethinking inter- and transdisciplinarity: Undisciplined knowledge and the emergence of a new thought style’, Futures, 65, pp. 163–174. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2014.10.009
  32. Davis, D.K. 2007. Resurrecting the Granary of Rome: Environmental History and French Colonial Expansion in North Africa (Ohio University Press).
  33. Davis, D.K., Chapter 29, this volume. ‘Historical ecology’.
  34. Debusman, R. 1993. ‘Santé et population sous l’effet de la colonisation en Afrique équatoriale’, Matériaux pour l’histoire de notre temps, 32.1, pp. 40–46. https://doi.org/10.3406/mat.1993.404115
  35. Decocq, G. 2022. Historical Ecology: Learning from the Past to Understand the Present and Forecast the Future of Ecosystems (John Wiley and Sons Inc).
  36. Denevan, W.M. 1992. ‘The pristine myth: the landscape of the Americas in 1492’, Association of American Geographers, 82.3, pp. 369–385.
  37. Dodaro, L. and D. Reuther. 2016. ‘Historical ecology: Agency in human–environment interaction’, in Routledge Handbook of Environmental Anthropology, ed. by H. Kopnina and E. Shoreman-Ouimet (Routledge), pp. 81–89.
  38. Ebouli, J.M. 2001. Les structures de type féodal en Afrique Centrale le cas des Téké: étude des relations de dépendance personnelle et des rapports de production entre ‘A mfumu’ et ‘Elogo dja Mfumu’ (des origines à 1880) (Université Omar Bongo).
  39. Ekblom, A., P. Lane and P. Sinclair. 2019. ‘Reconstructing African landscape historical ecologies: an integrative approach for managing biocultural heritage’, in Historical Ecologies, Heterarchies and Transtemporal Landscapes, ed. by C. Ray and M. Fernández-Götz (Routledge), pp. 83–100.
  40. Ellis, E.C. 2021. ‘People have shaped most of terrestrial nature for at least 12,000 years’, PNAS, 118.17. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2023483118
  41. Ellis, E.C., J.O. Kaplan, D.Q. Fuller, S. Vavrus, K. Klein Goldewijk, and P.H. Verburg. 2013. ‘Used planet: A global history’, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110.20, pp. 7978–7985. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1217241110
  42. Erickson, C.L. 2021. ‘Foreword’, in Methods in Historical Ecology: Insights from Amazonia, ed. by G. Odonne and J.-F. Molino (Routledge), pp. xii–xx.
  43. ESRI 2021. ‘World Topographic Map’, MapServer, http://server.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/World_Topo_Map/MapServer
  44. Evine-Binet, B. 2022. Ibola Dja Bana Ba Massaha—« la réserve forestière de tous les enfants »—est née au Gabon. Mongabay, https://fr.mongabay.com/2022/03/ibola-dja-bana-ba-massaha-la-reserve-forestiere-de-tous-les-enfants-est-nee-au-gabon/
  45. Fa, J.E., J.E. Watson, I. Leiper, P. Potapov, T.D. Evans, N.D. Burgess, Z. Molnár, Á Fernández‐Llamazares, T. Duncan, S. Wang, B.J. Austin, H. Jonas, C.J. Robinson, P. Malmer, K.K. Zander, M.V. Jackson, E. Ellis, E.S. Brondizio, and S.T. Garnett. 2020. ‘Importance of Indigenous peoples’ lands for the conservation of Intact Forest Landscapes’, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 18.3, pp. 135–140. https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2148
  46. Fairhead, J. and M. Leach. 1996. Misreading the African Landscape: Society and Ecology in a Forest Savanna Mosaic (Cambridge University Press).
  47. Fairhead, J. and M. Leach. 1998. Reframing Deforestation: Global Analyses and Local Realities: Studies in West Africa (Routledge).
  48. Foster, D., F. Swanson, J. Aber, I. Burke, N. Brokaw, D. Tilman, and A. Knapp. 2003. ‘The importance of land-use legacies to ecology and conservation’, Bioscience, 53.1, pp. 77–88. https://doi.org/10.1641/0006-3568(2003)053[0077:TIOLUL]2.0.CO;2
  49. Garcin, Y., P. Deschamps, G. Ménot, G. de Saulieu, E. Schefuß, D. Sebag, L.M. Dupont, R. Oslisly, B. Brademann, K.G. Mbusnum, J.-M. Onana, A.A. Ako, L.S. Epp, R. Tjallingii, M.R. Strecker, A. Brauer, and D. Sachse. 2018. ‘Early anthropogenic impact on Western Central African rainforests 2,600 y ago’, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115.13, pp. 3261–3266. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1715336115
  50. Gardinier, D. and D.A. Yates. 2006. Historical Dictionary of Gabon (Scarecrow Press).
  51. Gauch, H.G. Jr. 2002. Scientific Method in Practice (Cambridge University Press).
  52. Gaulme, F. 1988. Le Gabon et son ombre (Karthala).
  53. Gaulme, F. 1991. ‘From timber to petroleum’, Review of African Political Economy, 51, pp. 84–87.
  54. Gillson, L., C.L. Seymour, J.A. Slingsby, and D.W. Inouye. 2020. ‘What are the grand challenges for plant conservation in the 21st Century?’, Frontiers in Conservation Science, 1. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcosc.2020.600943
  55. Giresse, P. 1978. ‘Le Contrôle climatique de la sédimentation marine et continentale en afrique centale atlantique à la fin du quaternaire – problèmes de corrélation’, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 23, pp. 57–77.
  56. Gray, C. 2002. Colonial Rule and Crisis in Equatorial Africa: Southern Gabon, c. 1850–1940 (University of Rochester Press).
  57. Gray, C. and F. Ngolet. 1999. ‘Lambaréné, Okoumé and the transformation of labor along the Middle Ogooue (Gabon), 1870-1945’, The Journal of African History, 40.1, pp. 87–107.
  58. Grenand, P. and D. Davy. 2021. ‘History and ethnohistory of ancient settlements’, in Methods in Historical Ecology: Insights from Amazonia, ed. by G. Odonne and J.-F. Molino (Routledge), pp. 133–139.
  59. Guiral, L. 1889. Le Congo français. Du Gabon à Brazzaville (Plon).
  60. Hartwig, G.W. and K.D. Patterson. 1978. Disease in African History: An Introductory Survey and Case Studies (Duke University Press).
  61. Haurez, B., K. Daïnou, C. Vermeulen, F. Kleinschroth, F. Mortier, S. Gourlet-Fleury, and J.-L. Doucet. 2017. ‘A look at Intact Forest Landscapes (IFLs) and their relevance in Central African forest policy’, Forest Policy and Economics, 80, pp. 192–199. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2017.03.021
  62. Headrick, R. 1994. Colonial Health and Illness in French Equatorial Africa, 1885–1935 (African Studies Association Press).
  63. Heino, M., M. Kummu, M. Makkonen, M. Mulligan, P.H. Verburg, M. Jalava, and T.A. Räsänen. 2015. ‘Forest loss in protected areas and Intact Forest Landscapes: A global analysis’, PLOS ONE, 10.10. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0138918
  64. Hymas, O. 2015a. ‘L’Okoumé, fils du manioc’: Post-logging in remote rural forest areas of Gabon and its long-term impacts on development and the environment (University College London).
  65. Hymas, O. 2015b. L’Okoumé, fils du manioc’: Post‐logging in remote rural forest areas of Gabon and its long‐term impacts on development and the environment (University College London).
  66. Hymas, O., B. Rocha, N. Guerrero, M. Torres, K. Ndong, and G. Walters. 2021a. ‘There’s nothing new under the sun – lessons conservationists could learn from previous pandemics’, PARKS, 27, pp. 25–40.
  67. Hymas, O., B. Rocha, N. Guerrero, M. Torres, K. Ndong, and G. Walters. 2021b. ‘There’s nothing new under the sun – lessons conservationists could learn from previous pandemics’, PARKS, 27, pp. 25–40. https://doi.org/10.2305/iucn.ch.2021.parks-27-sioh.en
  68. Institut Geographique National 2008 (Carte Touristique).
  69. Journal Officiel de L’Afrique Equatoriale Française 1910. ‘Postes et Télégraphes’, Journal Officiel de L’Afrique Equatoriale Française, 7.19, p. 515.
  70. Kelley, L., Chapter 19, this volume. ‘Engaging remote sensing and ethnography to seed alternative landscape stories and scripts’.
  71. Kleinschroth, F., J.R. Healey, S. Gourlet-Fleury, F. Mortier, and R.S. Stoica. 2017. ‘Effects of logging on roadless space in intact forest landscapes of the Congo Basin: Roadless Areas’, Conservation Biology, 31.2, pp. 469–480. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.12815
  72. Knight, J. 2003. ‘Relocated to the roadside: Preliminary observations on the forest peoples of Gabon’, African Study Monographs Supplement, 28, pp. 81–121.
  73. Kull, C.A. 2004. Isle of Fire: The Political Ecology of Landscape Burning in Madagascar (University of Chicago Press).
  74. Lane, S.N. and Lave, R., Chapter 3, this volume. ‘Frames, disciplines and mixing methods in environmental research’.
  75. Laris, P. and D.A. Wardell. 2006. ‘Good, bad or “necessary evil”? Reinterpreting the colonial burning experiments in the savanna landscapes of West Africa’, The Geographical Journal, 172.4, pp. 271–290. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4959.2006.00215.x
  76. Latham, P. 2004. Useful plants of Bas-Congo Province, Democratic Republic of Congo (Paul Latham).
  77. Lele, S. and A. Kurien. 2011. ‘Interdisciplinary analysis of the environment: Insights from tropical forest research’, Environmental Conservation, 38.2, pp. 211–233. https://doi.org/10.1017/s037689291100018x
  78. Leleup, N. and H. Daems. 1969. ‘Les chenilles alimentaires du Kwango. Causes de leur rarefaction et mésures preconisées pour y rémedier’, Agric.Trop.Bot.Appl., 16, pp. 1–21.
  79. Leopold, A. 2013. A Sand County Almanac and Other Writings on Ecology and Conservation (Library of America).
  80. Lepemangoye-Mouléka, F. 2009. Profil socio-économique de la zone d’extraction de ressources naturelles à l’ouest du Parc National Waka (WCS Gabon).
  81. Linton, P. 2009. Non-Verbs (Latege).
  82. Maisels, F., G. Abitsi, and A. Bezangoye. 2008. Suivi écologique des grands singes et de l’impact des activités humaines dans l’aire de priorité exceptionnelle Lopé-Waka, Gabon: Rapport finale (WCS Gabon).
  83. Marche, A. 1879. Trois voyages en Afrique occidentale Sénégal, Gambie, Casamance, Gabon, Ogowe (Hachette).
  84. Marcucci, D.J. 2000. ‘Landscape history as a planning tool’, Landscape and Urban Planning, 49.1, pp. 67–81. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0169-2046(00)00054-2
  85. Martin, P. 1972. The External Trade of the Loango Coast, 1576-1870 (Clarendon Press).
  86. Martrou, L. 1923. ‘Le Secret de L’Ofoué’, Annales Apostoliques des PP du Saint-Esprit, 39.2 and 3, pp. 54–64 and 84–93.
  87. Mbemba, F. and J. Remacle. 1992. Inventaire et composition chimique des aliments et denrées alimentaires traditionnels du Kwango-Kwilu au Zaire (Biochimie Alimentarie UNIKIN-Zaire; Biochimie Cellulaire FUNDP-Belgique).
  88. Merle. 1958. ‘Les chenilles comestibles’, Notes Africaines, 77, pp. 20–23.
  89. Merlet, A. 1990. Le pays des trois estuaires: 1471-1900: quatre siècles de relations extérieures dans les estuaires du Muni, de la Mondah et du Gabon (Centre culturel français Saint-Exupéry).
  90. Meyo-Bibang, F. 1975. Le Gabon, le monde: histoire 1er degré (Hatier).
  91. Morin-Rivat, J., A. Fayolle, C. Favier, L. Bremond, S. Gourlet-Fleury, N. Bayol, P. Lejeune, H. Beeckman, and J.-L. Doucet. 2017. ‘Present-day central African forest is a legacy of the 19th century human history’, eLife, 6. https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.20343
  92. Moutangou, F.A. 2013. Une entreprise coloniale et ses travailleurs: la Société du Haut-Ogooué et la main d’œuvre africaine (1893-1963) (Université Toulouse le Mirai l–Toulouse II).
  93. Ngolet, F. 2003. Re-examining Population Decline Along the Gabon Estuary: A Case Study of the Bakèlè. in Culture, Ecology, and Politics in Gabon’s Rainforest, ed. by M.C. Reed and J.F. Barnes (The Edwin Mellen Press), pp. 137–163.
  94. Nguyen, T.H.V. 2022. The Politics of Forest Transition in Contemporary Upland Vietnam Case Study in A Luoi, Thua Thien Hue Province (University of Lausanne).
  95. Odonne, G. and J.-F. Molino. 2020. Methods in Historical Ecology: Insights from Amazonia (Routledge).
  96. Oslisly, R. 2001. ‘The history of human settlement in the Middle Ogooue Valley (Gabon). Implications for the environment’, in African Rain Forest Ecology and Conservation. An Interdisciplinary Perspective, ed. by W. Weber, L.J.T. White, A. Vedder, and L. Naughton-Treves (Yale University Press), pp. 101–118.
  97. Oslisly, R., L. White, I. Bentaleb, C. Favier, M. Fontugne, J.-F. Gillet, and D. Sebag. 2013. ‘Climatic and cultural changes in the west Congo Basin forests over the past 5000 years’, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 368.1625, pp. 20120304–20120304. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0304
  98. Patterson, K.D. 1975. The Northern Gabon Coast to 1875 (Clarendon Press).
  99. Potapov, P., M.C. Hansen, L. Laestadius, S. Turubanova, A. Yaroshenko, C. Thies, W. Smith, I. Zhuravleva, A. Komarova, S. Minnemeyer, and E. Esipova. 2017. ‘The last frontiers of wilderness: Tracking loss of intact forest landscapes from 2000 to 2013’, Science Advances, 3.1. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1600821
  100. Potapov, P., A. Yaroshenko, S. Turubanova, M. Dubinin, L. Laestadius, C. Thies, D. Aksenov, A. Egorov, Y. Yesipova, I. Glushkov, M. Karpachevskiy, A. Kostikova, A. Manisha, E. Tsybikova, and I. Zhuravleva. 2008. ‘Mapping the world’s Intact Forest Landscapes by remote sensing’, Ecology and Society, 13.2. https://doi.org/10.5751/es-02670-130251
  101. Pourtier, R. 1989. Le Gabon, tome 2: Etat et développement (L’Harmattan).
  102. Pourtier, R. 2010. Un siècle d’exploitation forestière au Gabon: de l’okoumé-roi à l’exploitation sous aménagement durable (Saint-Dié-Des-Vosges).
  103. Quilliard, M.C. 1920. ‘Les exploitations forestières du Gabon’, in Ongrès d’agriculture coloniale 21-25 Mai 1918. Compte rendu des travaux. Tome IV Agriculture indigène elevage, hygiène, forêt, pêcheries, ed. by M.J. Chailley and D. Zolla (Augustin Challamel), pp. 642–667.
  104. Reiners, D.S., W.A. Reiners, J.A. Lockwood, and S.D. Prager. 2019. ‘The usefulness of ecological concepts: patterns among practitioners’, Ecosphere, 10.4. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2652
  105. Reiners, W.A. and J.A. Lockwood. 2010. Philosophical Foundations for the Practices of Ecology (Cambridge University Press).
  106. Rich, J. 2005. ‘Forging permits and failing hopes: African participation in the Gabonese timber industry, ca. 1920-1940’, African Economic History, 33, pp. 149–173.
  107. Roberts, P. 2019. Tropical Forests in Human Prehistory, History, and Modernity (Oxford University Press).
  108. Rondet-Saint, M. 1911. L’Afrique Equatoriale française (Plon).
  109. Rouget, F. 1906. L’expannsion coloniale au Congo français (Emile Larose).
  110. de Saulieu, G., M. Elouga, and B. Sonké. 2016. Pour une écologie historique en Afrique Centrale (IRD, Yaoundé).
  111. Sautter, G. 1966. De l’Atlantique au Congo: une géographie du sous-peuplement République du Congo; République Gabonaise (La Haye, Mouton).
  112. Silveira, F.A.O., C.A. Ordóñez‐Parra, L.C. Moura, I.B. Schmidt, A.N. Andersen, W. Bond, E. Buisson, G. Durigan, A. Fidelis, R.S. Oliveira, C. Parr, L. Rowland, J.W. Veldman, and R.T. Pennington. 2021. ‘Biome Awareness Disparity is BAD for tropical ecosystem conservation and restoration’, Journal of Applied Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.14060
  113. Simon. 1953. ‘L’exploitation de la société du Haut Ogooué (Section Bois) a N’Djolé’, Bois et forêts des Tropiques, 31, pp. 15–26.
  114. Smith, C., O. Perkins, and J. Mistry. 2022. ‘Global decline in subsistence-oriented and smallholder fire use’, Nature Sustainability, 5, pp. 542–551. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-022-00867-y
  115. Spinage, C.A. 1973. ‘A review of ivory exploitation and elephant population trends in Africa’, African Journal of Ecology, 11.3–4, pp. 281–289.
  116. Spinage, C.A. 2012. African Ecology (Springer Berlin Heidelberg).
  117. Suret-Canale, J. 1987. Afrique et capitaux: géographie des capitaux et des investissements en Afrique tropicale d’expression française (L’Arbre verdoyant, Montreuil-sous-Bois).
  118. Szabó, P. 2015. ‘Historical ecology: past, present and future’, Biological Reviews, 90.4, pp. 997–1014. https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12141
  119. Táíwò, O. 2019. ‘Rethinking the decolonization trope in philosophy’, The Southern Journal of Philosophy, 57.1, pp. 135–159. https://doi.org/10.1111/sjp.12344
  120. Trisos, C.H., J. Auerbach, and M. Katti. 2021. ‘Decoloniality and anti-oppressive practices for a more ethical ecology’, Nature Ecology and Evolution, 5, pp. 1205–1212. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01460-w
  121. Van der Veen, L.J. 1991. Etude comparée des parlers du Groupe Okani B30 (Université Lumière-Lyon).
  122. Vande Weghe, J.P. 2011. Lopé, Waka et monts Birougou: le moyen Ogooué et le massif du Chaillu (Les parcs nationaux du Gabon).
  123. Vansina, J. 1990. Paths in the Rainforest. Towards a History of Political Tradition in Equatorial Africa (Wisconsin Press).
  124. Veldman, J.W, E. Buisson, G. Durigan, G.W. Fernandes, S. Le Stradic, G. Mahy, D. Negreiros, G.E. Overbeck, R.G. Veldman, N.P. Zaloumis, F.E. Putz, and W.J. Bond. 2015. ‘Toward an old-growth concept for grasslands, savannas, and woodlands’, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 13.3, pp. 154–162. https://doi.org/10.1890/140270
  125. Veldman, Joseph W., G.E. Overbeck, D. Negreiros, G. Mahy, S. Le Stradic, G.W. Fernandes, G. Durigan, E. Buisson, F.E. Putz, and W.J. Bond. 2015. ‘Where tree planting and forest expansion are bad for biodiversity and ecosystem services’, BioScience, 65.10, pp. 1011–1018. https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biv118
  126. Veldman, Joseph W., G.E. Overbeck, D. Negreiros, G. Mahy, S.L. Stradic, G.W. Fernandes, G. Durigan, E. Buisson, F.E. Putz, and W.J. Bond. 2015. ‘Tyranny of trees in grassy biomes’, Science, 347.6221, pp. 484–485. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.347.6221.484-c
  127. Walker, R.B.N. 1870. ‘Relation d’une tentative d’exploration en 1866 de la Rivière de L’Ogové et de la recherche d’un Grand Lac Devant se trouver dans l’Afrique Centrale’, Annales des voyages, de la géographie. L’Histoire et de l’archéologie, 205.6, pp. 59–80; 120–144.
  128. Walters, G. 2012. ‘Changing customary fire regimes and vegetation structure in Gabon’s Batéké Plateaux’, Human Ecology, 40, pp. 943–955. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-012-9536-x
  129. Walters, G. 2015. ‘Changing fire governance in Gabon’s Plateaux Batéké savanna landscape’, Conservation and Society, 13.3, pp. 275–286. https://doi.org/10.4103/0972-4923.170404
  130. Walters, G., J.A. Fraser, N. Picard, O. Hymas, and J. Fairhead. 2019. ‘Deciphering Anthropocene African tropical forest dynamics: how social and historical sciences can elucidate forest cover change and inform forest management’, Anthropocene, 27, pp. 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ancene.2019.100214
  131. Walters, G., S. Touladjan, and L. Makouka. 2014. ‘Integrating cultural and conservation contexts of hunting: the case of the Plateaux Bateke savannas of Gabon’, African Study Monographs, 35.2, pp. 99–128.
  132. Walters, G.M., D. Nguema, and R. Niangadouma. 2022. ‘Flora and fire in an old-growth Central African forest-savanna mosaic: a checklist of the Parc National des Plateaux Batéké (Gabon)’, Plant Ecology and Evolution, 155.2, pp. 189–206. https://doi.org/10.5091/plecevo.85954
  133. White, F. 1983. La végétation de l’Afrique: mémoire accompagnant la carte de végétation de l’Afrique (ORSTOM, Paris).
  134. Zanjani, L.V., H. Govan, H.C. Jonas, T. Karfakis, D.M. Mwamidi, J. Stewart, G. Walters, and P. Dominguez. 2023. ‘Territories of life as key to global environmental sustainability’, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2023.101298

Export Metadata

UK registered social enterprise and Community Interest Company (CIC).

Company registration 14549556

Metadata

  • By book
  • By publisher
  • GraphQL API
  • Export API

Resources

  • Downloads
  • Videos
  • Merch
  • Presentations
  • Service status

Contact

  • Email
  • Bluesky
  • Mastodon
  • Github

Copyright © 2026 Thoth Open Metadata. Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.