Putting Leadership First: Capitec Foundation’s Decade of ImpactA PhD student measuring the circumference of a tree in Kisangani, DRC. Photo by Ollivier Girard/CIFOR-ICRAF.
The world’s second-largest tropical forest sequesters approximately 40 gigatons of carbon annually – roughly equivalent to all of the carbon emissions that humans produce each year, according to the“This is a global issue. The Congo Basin is a major source of rainfall in the Sahel region. A huge proportion of the world’s ecosystem services come from this region,” said Richard Eba’a Atyi, Regional Coordinator for Central Africa at CIFOR-ICRAF, at a forum in Bonn, Germany.
“It’s not conservation for conservation’s sake, but for the benefit of the local communities and Indigenous Peoples who live there and their livelihoods and well-being. If we have those forests standing there today, it is because people are taking care of them,” said Dr Aurelie Flore Koumba Pambo, Facilitator at the Congo Basin Forest Partnership .
Mining and logging activities are major drivers of deforestation in the region and are often carried out illegally or without concern for sustainability. Experts believe a better understanding of the Congo Basin’s forests is needed to address these root causes.