The scientific literature has so far focused more on identifying the direct drivers of forest and biodiversity losses, thus downplaying the factors that drive these losses. Crop diseases are some of these unsuspected drivers that increase the negative impact of sustainable agriculture on forests and ecosystem biodiversity. With a focus on the Yangambi Biosphere Reserve (DRC), this study sought to test the hypothesis that cassava cultivation has increased deforestation and erosion of forest biodiversity in the central Congolese basin in general and in Yangambi-Centre in particular.