Logging and mining have direct and indirect impacts on biodiversity in West Africa. In most of the priority conservation areas identified for the 6-country region, the Working Group viewed logging or mining activities (or both) as conservation threats.

Logging has led to degradation of forests, as well as outright clearing of forested lands. Enforcement of bans on the harvest of certain timber species is often inadequate. Timber has served as a source of much-needed foreign revenue for governments; it has also become currency in fueling warfare (see Civil Conflict section). The construction of roads for timber removal invites settlement, agricultural expansion, hunting, and extraction of non-timber forest products. Such activities continue long after extraction of the primary resource has occurred.

Mining impacts include the clearing of forests for open pit mines, as well as alteration of topography and hydrology. Groundwater and surface water pollution from processing operations includes cyanide, arsenic, and heavy metals; siltation from gravel bed removal in streams and rivers destroys aquatic environments as well as drinking water supplies. Employment opportunities in mines create an influx of people, and concomitant pressures on shrinking forest areas to provide bush meat, fuel wood, shelter materials, agricultural land for food crops, and other non-cash goods.

Limiting factors in addressing threats from extractive industries include the low level of information and awareness of the extent of extractive industry impacts; their social and financial costs; and inadequate means to define and enforce environmentally sound regulations.