In Southeastern Katanga, mining activities are (in)directly responsible for deforestation, ecosystem degradation and unplanned building densification. However, little is known about these dynamics at the local level. First, we quantify the landscape anthropization around four agglomerations of Southeastern Katanga (Lubumbashi, Likasi, Fungurume and Kolwezi) in order to assess the applicability of the Nature–Agriculture-Urbanization model based on the fact that natural landscapes are replaced by anthropogenic landscapes, first dominated by agricultural production, and then built-up areas. Secondly, we predict evolutionary trends of landscape anthropization by 2090 through the first-order Markov chain. Mapping coupled with landscape ecology analysis tools revealed that the natural cover that dominated the landscape in 1979 lost more than 60% of its area in 41 years (1979–2020) around these agglomerations in favor of agricultural and energy production, the new landscape matrix in 2020, but also built-up areas. These disturbances, amplified between 2010 and 2020, are more significant around Lubumbashi and Kolwezi agglomerations. Built-up areas which spread progressively will become the dominant process by 2060 in Lubumbashi and by 2075 in Kolwezi. Our results confirm the applicability of the Nature–Agriculture-Urbanization model to the tropical context and underline the urgency to put in place a territorial development plan and alternatives regarding the use of charcoal as a main energy source in order to decrease the pressure on natural ecosystems, particularly in peri-urban areas.

The uncontrolled logging of Pterocarpus tinctorius Welw. in the Kasenga territory in the southeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is of significant socioeconomic benefit, but above all, it is a threat to the stability of forest ecosystems. Based on Landsat images from 2009, 2013, 2017 and 2021, the landscape dynamics of the Kasomeno region in the Kasenga territory, a P. tinctorius exploitation area, was quantified using a mapping approach coupled with landscape ecology analysis tools. The results reveal a continuous loss of forest cover over all the periods studied, mostly between 2013 and 2017, primarily through the dissection of patches. Also, through the spatial process of attrition, the fields recorded a regressive dynamic between 2013–2017, a sign of abandonment of agricultural activity in favour of P. tinctorius illegal logging. These landscape dynamics are the consequences of strong anthropic activities in the study area, leading to an important spatial expansion of the savannah. Consequently, the level of landscape disturbance doubled from 0.8 to 1.7 between 2009 and 2021. Our results suggest that, without regulatory enforcement, illegal logging of P. tinctorius seriously compromises forest ecosystem health and household food security in the region.

The misappropriation of sustainable forest programs by local communities and the under-utilization of their knowledge are major impediments to the mitigation of deforestation. Within this context, participation has become a principle used in almost all interventions. It is important to evaluate the practices in this area to ensure better involvement of local communities. This survey examined the perception and participation of local communities in the management of miombo woodlands, based on semi-structured questionnaire surveys involving 945 households in 5 villages in the Lubumbashi rural area. The results reveal that local communities perceive soil fertility loss and deforestation as major environmental challenges in their area. This perception remains largely influenced by their socio-demographic factors such as respondents’ age, seniority in the villages, and level of education. To mitigate deforestation, the rare actions of provincial public services and non-governmental organizations are focused on the sustainable exploitation of miombo woodlands through the development of simple management plans, reforestation, and forest control. These activities are sparse and poorly inclusive of scientific findings and the priorities of local communities. These justify poor community participation, particularly in the actions of provincial public services. For a better appropriation of sustainable forest management plans and to reinforce miombo woodlands’ resilience to anthropogenic pressures, based on these findings, we recommend a concerted and inclusive approach to forest planning.

The rapid population growth in sub-Saharan Africa requires regular monitoring of the spatial expansion of cities in order to facilitate efficient urban planning. In this study, we quantified the dynamics of urban and peri-urban areas in the city of Kisangani from 1987 to 2021, based on morphological criteria. Results demonstrate continuous urban and peri-urban growth, with respective average annual change rates of 8.2% and 7.6%. The urban core area expanded from 13.49 km² to 100.49 km², resulting from an alternating process of diffusion and coalescence. Peri-urbanization indexes developed to assess the trend of the decline in urban densities indicate a phase of urban densification over the period 1987–2010 succeeded by a decline in urban density over the period 2010–2021 that is characterized by a large expansion of the peri-urban area. However, despite this trend observed between 2010 and 2021, the decrease in urban density was not effective between 1987 and 2021 in Kisangani, as the fraction of peri-urban area observed in 1987 remains equivalent to that observed in 2021. This suggests a continuity of urban densification despite increasing peri-urbanization.

The landscape of the Port-au-Prince agglomeration in the Republic of Haiti has undergone profound changes linked to (peri-)urban expansion supported by rapid demographic growth. We quantify the land cover dynamics along the urban–rural gradient of the Port-au-Prince agglomeration using Landsat images from 1986, 1998, 1999, 2010, and 2021 coupled with geographic information systems and landscape ecology analysis tools. The results show that over 35 years the acreage of the urban zone increased seven-fold while that of the peri-urban area increased five-fold, to the detriment of the rural zone, which was reduced by 14%. The dynamics of the landscape composition along the urban–rural gradient are characterized by a rapid progression of built-up and bare land in urban and peri-urban zones and by fields in the rural zone, in contrast to the more accentuated regression of vegetation in the peri-urban zone. The landscape of the study area has undergone significant changes due to the high demand for housing resulting from rapid population growth, in the context of a lack of territorial development planning by public authorities. This impacts the sustainability of socio-economic and ecological processes in an area where populations are highly dependent on plant resources. Our results underline the necessity to orient territorial development planning in urban, peri-urban and rural zones through an integrated and participatory approach.

While the methods for monitoring deforestation are relatively well established, there is still no compromise on those for forest degradation. We propose here a systematic review on studies about forest degradation in the Congo Basin. Our analysis focused on seven key anthropogenic causes of forest degradation. Shifting agriculture emerged as the most significant driver, accounting for 61% ± 28.58% (mean ± SD) of canopy opening, 73.16% ± 16.88% aboveground carbon loss, and 30.37% ± 30.67% of tree species diversity loss over a 5–60-year period. Our analysis reveals a significant disconnect. Only 29% of the reviewed studies address this driver, while over 64% focus primarily on the consequences of industrial timber harvesting. Despite its comparatively minor contribution to degradation, with effects range from only 8.98% ± 13.63% of canopy opening, 14.79% ± 22.21 aboveground carbon loss, and 4.27 ± 21.07 tree species diversity loss over 1–20 years. Indeed, most of the methods focus on detecting changes in canopy structure associated with forest logging over a short period (0–5 years). These illustrate the need for a shift in focus in scientific research towards innovative methods, which can be developed over time, to monitor the various impacts of all causes of forest degradation.