The Impact of Commercial Logging and Forest Policy on Indigenous Peoples in the Democratic Republic of Congo

It is widely recognised that the indigenous hunter-gatherers of the high altitude forests of Central Africa’s Great Lakes Region (Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda) were the first inhabitants of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), who were later joined by migrating farmers and animal herders. There are four main groups of these indigenous, so-called “Pygmy”, peoples in the vast territory of DRC: the Bambuti, Bacwa, Western Batwa and Eastern Batwa. As there has never been a national demographic census, their total number is unknown; however, estimates of the indigenous “Pygmy” population range from 270,000 to four million, which is approximately 0.4%-7% of the total population.