Congo woodcutting market. The wood being sold here as charcoal has been cut by local woodcutters in a tropical rain forest in the Congo Basin. Demand for timber has risen as the population in the Congo Basin has increased. Other uses of the wood include firewood and planks. Although manual woodcutting contrasts with the mechanised logging done for European markets, in many areas local cutting on a large scale contributes to deforestation and has been made illegal. This wood, from illegal cutting, is being sold in the market at Mbandaka, Equateur Province, Democratic Republic of Congo.