Our Forests, Our Only Savings!
Congo Forests Keepers strives to preserve and conserve Congo Basin forests for present and future generations by promoting local efforts to sustainably manage renewable and non-renewable natural resources. Our actions ensure that governments, indigenous people and local communities are empowered to address biodiversity crises and mitigate Climate Change.
FACTS
The Congo Basin forests cover a massive expanse of over 180 million hectares, spreading across the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Congo-Brazzaville, the southeastern reaches of Cameroon, southern Central African Republic (CAR), Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. The region comprises 10 per cent of the world’s remaining tropical rain and moist forests and forms the largest block of rainforest in the world.
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There are approximately 10, 000 species of tropical plants in the Congo Basin and 30 percent are unique to the region. Endangered wildlife, including forest elephants, chimpanzees, bonobos, and lowland and mountain gorillas inhabit the lush forests. 400 other species of mammals, 1,000 species of birds and 700 species of fish can also be found here.
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The Congo Basin forests are estimated to contain between 25-30 billion tonnes of carbon. This is roughly equal to 4 years of current global anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions.
The Congo Basin is home to the world’s largest tropical peatlands, along with Brazil and Indonesia. The peat swamp forest of the Congo Basin stores around 29 billion tons of carbon – approximately equivalent to three years’ worth of global greenhouse gas emissions – while the Basin as a whole absorbs nearly 1.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide a year.
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These forests are also important to indigenous groups who have lived there for thousands of years. Approximately 30 million people, representing more than 150 indigenous groups, live in the Congo River Basin.
