Ulous subregion south of the sahara. For decades, cote divoire, or the ivory coast was one of its most stable societies. Then in 1999, a military coup, followed by years of civil war threatened thetate and its prosperi. We will examine the geogphic roots of this conflict, including differing climatic and ecologicalones; the booms and busts of agricultural export commodities; regional conflicts based on ethnic and religious tensions. Geographer jeanlouis chalea studies a cocoa plantation nearoubre,thsohwesof cote divoire. chaleard speaking french translator during the 1960s and 70s, the ivory coast experienced strong economic growth. This was essentially due to exported cultivation, principally of cocoa. E ivory coast is the largest cocoa producer in e world. Narrator cocoa will only grow in tropical rain forests which you can see on this satellite mosaic as darkegreeareas along the southern coast. During the 1920scoffeendocoa plantations began in the southeast. They then diffused to theenterwest and finally to the southwest inhe 197. The drier savaa zones in the north were leftut. Agricultural wealth is one of the factors that has influenced the growth and activity of the towns. We have an administrative district a commercial district which, in some ways, would look like a. A frenchrovincial city with cafes and commeial stps and. And restaurants. It has quite. A french flavo narrator it makesense. Abidjan was the capil of the formeench colony. The port wasain gateway for impos and exports. The govement was located in abidjan and there was lots owealthcreated in those years. Narror jans success is best reflected in the modnity of thelateau disict. Assembled here are the headquarters of Large Businesses and the Central Administration that once controlled ivory coasts economic growth. The key was something called the Stabilization Fund. Chaleard translated the Stabilization Fund controls the commercialization of coffee, cocoa and other agricultural exports. speaking french translator heres how it works. Every year, the state, ineptember or october, fis the cocoa ice. For example, this year they say that the rate is00 c fncs a kilo. 400 francs a kilo thughout the entire country is the price, even ithe world market rate goes to a thousand or 200 francs a kilo and, of course, the state pockets the difference. Narrator at difference was reinvested in t count but often enriching certain segments of the population. You have the residential neighborhood of cocody or le plateau,here you have sumptuous vias where youll find two peugeots orercedesbenzin a parkingarage. Narrator income from cocoa and otr commodities also stimulated industrial growth and the development of infrastructure. The cote divoire road network is one of the most modern in tropical africa. This was instrumental in openingp the disaantage northern regions. So was moving e catal northtoamoussoukro, signed to rebalance the country geogphically of course, yamoussoukro was the birthplace of thenpresident houphouetboigny so the move was controversial, especially because of the enormous cost including the basilica notre dame de la paix, modeled after the vatican. It extended the reach of christianity from its traditional southern base towards the islamic north helping to make yamoussoukro a kind of forward capital, complete with a new university center. The creation of new services and facilities alsottracted a populationof up to 100,000 people. Singlestory housing sprang up along the wide avenues and Small Businesses multiplied along the old footpaths. In other areas of the country, too, commercial and Crafts Centers emerged. One of those was yopougon a populous area of more than 400,000 people. But most wealth was still ceeredack n abidn. woman speaking french translator i import and export anything caclots,oos. At the moment, im dealing with italy, belgium and china. In the 80s, things flourished but pretty soon after, around 86 or 87, the crisis came. Narrator the crisis in 1986 washecollapse oworld cocoa prices. The cycles of boom and bust are a constant threat in africa, south of the sahara, because of its dependence on fluctuating commodities. The economy ofote divoire was badly shaken. Earnings from the Stabilization Fund evaporated. The state reduced its municipal investment programs. The boom period of the 1970s led to lots of optimism and lotsf borrowingon international markets. When prices declined in the 1980s the country found itselfheavily indebted withery ttle money to payack its creditors. Narrator in pces like yamoussoukro, jobsecame scarce. maspeaki french translor i came here becausei ha brother here. Chaleard translated do you like this work . Im happy enough since there are no oer possibilities. There are no businesses where young people can get a job. Anyway, if it goes on like this, ill have toeave. Naator among afcan countries,otedivoire benefited great dea om the eerprising spirit of its tradespeopleand its businesswome but not whenimesre bad. woman speaking french translator ive got four employees, six apprentices and a secretary. For nearly two yearsow businessas been stagnantfor me. Its very hard. Its a difficultarke i even have toell on credit, and some of the clients r pay. Narrator the Cocoa Producers are small farmers. The fall ieiincomeevelsm educth , somes eaking translator i have children at school and at college. That costs money and sometimes we cant even afford soap at home. translated and why do you send the children to school . For the future, their future. Theres no more forest. If i keep a child here with me where is he going to work . The Tropical Forest has been the scene ofuccleang. Andevelopment of pntatio and harey much reachedits mits. Anduring t 198, duri a majoeconomic recession many indigenous ivoriapeople that had been livi say,n urban areas, moved cko ruraareas tolook for alternativempymen anfound atlo behol there was little land left. And, in factthere were many reigrs. Tensions have now enatedaround land scarci and considerable antiforeigner sentiment. And. Someasesnsf ousas of foreignershaveeeevictefrom partsof touthwest, for example. Eres beenioe. Eres been forcereiation in sense not by the ivorian government, but its peoe aring eives. speaking french translatorif i said there was still some forest, i lied. Wee s, havnosquailometers or even five hs of virgiefivers g. Each year, we have problems feeding ourselves. Narrator for decas,igsoth hern cote divoire and from neighboring countries came to e sparselypopulatedrain forest to find work on the plantations or obtain land. animals calling man speaking french translator we come here frothe region of sakassou. E ur when he arrived, he went to see the bakwes, the natives. He explained to them why he had come and what he wanted. They were very nice. They gave him someorest very good forest, in fact. Thats how we ended up here. Narrator nipy is a village in the southwest the land of the bakwe people. man speaking french translator we received our brothers from neighboring countries burkina faso, guinea, mali the baule from other parts of the ivory coast who we allowed to settle who are planters and who live here side by side with us. Narrator various ethnic groups migrated from the poorer northern savannas. Many were baules, originally from the center of the country but also the senufos, malinkes and lobis from the north. The plantations also attracted workers from other countries including migrants from the semidesert called sahel in mali and burkina faso. The presence of. Of foreigners in cote divoire is important. Its been estimated that they comprise 40 of the population. Narrator together with unemployed ivorians many foreigners ended up in shantytowns like this one near abidjan called washington. man speaking french translator first of all, it was foreigners, the burkinabes and the malians who were even more numerous. Then, in the 80s, with the crisis, e population of this area swelled with people om all overe ivory coitself. At the moment,e are people coming from all over the ivory coast. You can find baules, agnis, dyulas and maukas from the north. Narrator but the northern migrants bring more than just their Ethnic Diversity into this diminished economy. Bassett theyve changed the religious composition of the country. Eighty percent, its estimated of immigrants are. Are muslim. So currently, the population of cote divoire is about 37 , 38 muslim and a good percentage of that is foreignborn. So were at a conjuncture where tensions over land that are also becomiixed with politics over whos ivorian, whos not ivorian are creating the conditions for further political instability. So the new leader, or leaders, of cote divoire have a lot on their platter. Narrator the future of cote divoire depends on a complex interaction of geographic forces, including regional conflicts based on ethnic and religious tensions; differing climatic and ecological zones; the booms and busts of agricultural export commodities. Ass unfo noce their location relative to regions of climate, ethnicity and religious background. Narrator in economic terms, Central Africa is the leastdevepesubregion in the worlds leastdeveloped region. Tiny gabon is one of the richest nations in a of africa south of t sahar like cote divoire, it also depends on primary Economic Activities the harvest or extraction of crops or natural resources. In gabon, the most lucrative thing they extract is oil. But gabon suffers great income inequality. Some people make a lot more than most. And their wealth comes from nonrenewable resources not a viable longterm strategy. So the challenge in gabon is Sustainable Development for all of its population. Located in the equatorial rain forest gabon is very sparsely populated. For many years, the main part of its economy has been based on the export of unfinished products. In the colonial period equatorial africa relied on primary Economic Activities. Gabon, for instance, harvested timber, ivory and rubber. Since independence most income still comes from the export of Raw Materials. In the interior of the country the principal activity is forestry. Camps are installed to house the workers. Henri mapagakoumba, a gabonese geographer, travels to one of these forest sites. speaking french translator here we are in the heart of the gabonese forest. This forest represents 87 of the territory that is two million square kilometers. When gabon gained independence in 1960, timber exports represented 75 of total exports. Day, the timber share isix percent becae of the importance of oil. chain saw dron thestops splintering and crashing narrator nevertheless, the exploition of the forest is sti an impoant part of the economy proving 15 of the countrys jobs. Cil weth of the gonese forest is okoume from which plywood is made gabon practically has a world monopoly ithis type ofood. Only a part of the forest is exploited for the moment. E system operates ploitats granted by the state to companies, often foreign, for a fixed duration. But the forest wealth is exploited inefficiently as there is practically no value added within the country. Today, the largest areas being worked are situated in the center of the country. This has been made possible by the construction of the transgabonese railway. Begun in 1973, the railway was completed in 1986. In order to lay the 400 miles of track gigantic construction sites and enormous investments were necessary. The initiators of the project imagined the railroad as the backbone of a new economy. But rather than developing the interior the rails merely drain away Raw Materials for export timber, magnesium and uranium. Today, most Economic Activities are concentrated in the coastal zone in the major population centers. Since 1957, this trend was reinforced by the discovery near port gentil of oil. This discovery transformed the economy of gabon whicis now the worlds 13th largest producer. In 1994, the oil sector represented 30 of the Gross National product and 80 of the countrys exports. The state has given concessions to large oil companies. The most important are elfgabon and shellgabon. These companies play a large role in the countrys Financial Life by contributing to the state budget and by investing in numerous sectors of the economy. Some say that elfgabon is a state within the state. Translator the city of port gentil didnt exist 80 years ago, but today, it is second most important city in the country. It is oil city. The majority of the inhabited areas consist ofousing constructed by the oilompanies. Narrator Residential Housing is reserved for executives of whom most are expatriates. Poorer accommodations are for workers. Today port gentil has 80,000 inhabitants but population growth is stagnant. The city suffers mainly from its isolation. There is no road linking port gentil and libreville. The only means of transportation are by air and sea. Libreville the capital of the country has grown since the oil boom of the 70s. Economic, political and Administrative Services are concentrated here. With 350,000 inhabitants it has onethird of the population of gabon. During the prosperous 1980s, vast public works were planned for improving the city. In the hauts de guegue area those privileged by the regime have built luxurious villas. But the gabonese economy, based on oil revenue, was fragile. From 1986, the fall in oil pres combined with the fall in the dollar rate brought a serious financial crisis. The state, which had launched an ambitious policy of investments found itself heavily indebted and was unable to meet its commitments. The great schemes for improvement were interrupted particularly at libreville where today Public Services and utilities are clearly inadequate. It is estimated that 80 of the capitals population are housed in badlyequipped living quarters without basic public amenities. This is the case of the matitis areas which are situated on lowlying ground and are regularlood the rainy season. speaking french translator over there, theres a river. This river is blocked up. The water does not flow anymore, because there are houses that block it. Thats why there are floods. Got to get rid of the water. A city of bs. Why the city oes . Because we are all piled u on top of one anothe narrator most of the inhabitants come from rural areas. Theyre living in an illegal and precarious manner. The crisis has hit this disadvantaged population very hard. speaking french translator ive been here since 1952. At that time, a laborer earned 1,000 or 1,500 francs a month, but one lived well. Now, we who dont work were suffering. With many children, you suffer. Narrator gabon is a rich african country. An indirect result of this wealth is that it imports more and more products. Libreville has the biggest supermarket in Central Africa. Many imported products are found here. Their ices have increased dramatically following the devaluation of the cfa franc which occurred in 1994. Translator we no longer buy in quantity like before because prices have increased so much. translated you know eating is part of ones culture. One gets into the habit. Soven if the productscome from elsewhere and the prices have skyrocketed, the main thing is to find a cheese that suits my purse. Narror traditional trade is also affectedy the crisis. Those who sell local produce have to resist both the fall in Consumer Spending and competition from foreign products. Agriculture is a poorlydeveloped sector particularly because of the weakness of the transportation network. The interior of the country is very sparsely populated. The villages, which are often only hamlets are very isolated and badly equipped. Subsistence agriculture is the norm here. The main part of the Agricultural Production manioc, bananas, ignames and peanuts is selfconsumed because of the low production, alsoecse of the difficulties in trtatio the country imports 50 of its food requirements. The development of agriculture is indispensable to slow the flight from the rural areas and to reduce the cost of imports. Green belt areas haveeen veloped on the osk ofrban cen in oer to sulymaet produ under pressure from the International Monetary fund in the early 90s, gabon restructured its Economic Policy and is attempting to reduce the share of its economy coming from the oil sector. translated for a few years, oil will remain the principal source of the budgeted income of the state but the government is working at the present time so that this dependence becomes less and less evident and so that other areas of the economy especially agriculture and forestry will also contribute a more important share to the state budget than it does now. Narrator but just the opposite occurred. By the beginning of the 21st century, oil had risen to 50 of gabons gdp from 30 when we were first there in 1994. Yet drops in production prevent the country from fully realizing potential gains. In a country dependent on nonrenewable resources some hope they can make forestry here sustainable. At the same time they grant new permits to cut the forest at unprecedented rates. The dark green shows the area that is covered in forest. Not long ago, it seemed like an endless resource. In 1957, the government sold concessions, or permits, for logging in these areas. Gradually, those areas grew and grew. By 1997, areas slated for logging looked like this. The current ratofng gabowi lose half its forest cover the next hundred years. So what could they do to preserve their forest and still bring in income . After years of research, scientists here find one small hope for Sustainable Development. The extent of remaining gabonese rain forest is surveyed by biologists michael fay and leslie white for the Wildlife Conservation society. Wcs and the National GeographicSociety Support fays megatransect a walk through hundreds of miles of pristine Central African forest with local crews. They discover not only rivers and forests at risk, but some of the worlds st isolated wildlife. Elep