World News for Students of English

03-04-2023 07:00

Gabon is one of the last places in the world where you can see gorillas, leopards, elephants, or hippos. Gabon’s forests are the largest in the world and they are still intact.

The country’s profit from oil went down in recent years and the government is looking for new ways how to make money without destroying the forest. A new project called Grande Mayumbe aims to get money from logging, farming, and ecotourism. Workers are building safari houses which will cost 2,000 dollars per night and up to 20 people can stay there at the same time. An Italian company is logging trees sustainably, which means that it cuts down just enough trees for the forest to regenerate.

Local people worry that the project will have a negative impact on their lives and that they will no longer be able to fish, hunt or grow crops.

Difficult words: intact (complete and in the original state), logging (cutting down trees for their wood), ecotourism (holidays to places of natural beauty in a way which helps local people).

You can watch the original video in the Level 3 section.