Poor resource curse country reliant on extractive primary industry to grow is sad fact of development. In 20 years Congo GDP went from 20B to 50B, population 50

Poor resource curse country reliant on extractive primary industry to grow is sad fact of development. In 20 years Congo GDP went from 20B to 50B, population 50M to 90M, per capita 150 to 550. In terms of forestry, Congo is one of the most forrested countries in the world at 85% coverage. 20 years of extraction chipped away ~5%. Not sustainable on multi generation time scales, but short/medium term, not terrible tradeoff. Problem is resource curse countries tend to have shit governance invest and move past extractive phase. Congo seems particularly fucked since it's basically a land locked resource curse country, both bad indicators for long term development. That said, doesn't look like Congo wood trade is worth that much, 250-400M. And country is essentially landlocked except for a few km of coast + Matadi port which seems like it would make regulating illegal wood trade somewhat enforcable. Pay them to not cut in exchange for some inspectors seems workable. Seems.