00:00Every day, Jean-Romeu heads out to fish on the Mbali River.
00:05But these days, the catch is getting smaller.
00:08Experts warn that deforestation is devastating fish populations.
00:12Around Boali, in southwest and central African republic,
00:16trees are being felled at an alarming rate to produce charcoal for cooking and heating.
00:22For Jean-Romeu and fellow fishermen, the struggle to survive is growing harder by the day.
00:29Our main problem is the felling of trees.
00:31This has to stop. The trees are being cut down to produce charcoal.
00:35But if there are no more trees here, the land will burn, the water will dry up even more,
00:40and there will soon be no fish left.
00:42Look, in the past, we used to catch much bigger carp.
00:46With the extreme heat and climate change, the fish have become smaller.
00:50But we have to make do with whatever we still manage to catch.
00:56Fishing sustains livelihoods across the central African republic.
01:00But in Boali, market vendors are struggling to find enough fish to sell.
01:10Fish is becoming scarce just as demand is rising.
01:14Stocks are running out quickly.
01:16Buyers are coming from Yaloque, Bangri and other towns to stock up.
01:21As a result, even we, the residents of Boali, no longer have enough fish.
01:26It's a real shortage.
01:27Fishermen are finding less and less in the water, and it's becoming a real problem.
01:36Experts warn deforestation is lowering water levels, muddying the river,
01:40and depleting oxygen, making it harder for fish to reproduce and survive.
01:50Tree felling does indeed have an impact on water in the Central African Republic.
01:55We will first start with number one, which is the effects, increased water turbidity,
02:04and reduced oxygen levels.
02:07This is part of the first point.
02:09As I was saying, the second point, along with the same lines,
02:12is the destruction of fish breeding grounds.
02:21Nearly 200 countries are meeting in Armenia this week
02:24to tackle deforestation, pollution and the global biodiversity crisis.
02:30And the company is Eating Ging crimes, biologists...
02:33the expensive opportunities.
