The Congo Basin

The Congo basin is the second largest rainforest in the world, holding up to 400 tonnes of carbon per acre.

Here at Cool Earth, we’re committed to working with communities in Africa, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to keep carbon locked in.

Deforestation has become a major issue for the rainforests of Western and Central Africa; driven by subsistence agriculture, firewood clearance and urban expansion alongside mining and industrial logging. Forests have been transformed at unprecedented rates into grasslands and savannas, fragmenting habitats and endangering species.

Habitat fragmentation, which pushes animals out of their natural home ranges, and disrupts their migrations, is being linked to an increased the risk of disease. For example, fruit bats carrying the Ebola virus were pushed closer to human settlements and are considered to have contributed to the spread of the virus.

The loss these forests is also costing us a vital tool in the battle against climate change. The Congo Basin is a large carbon sink, thought to hold around 27 billion tonnes of carbon. Without these rainforests, we could see even further increases in global temperatures.

These forests need protecting and fast.

We’re working with the communities of the Congo to change this; helping them fight back against deforestation and keep their forests standing. Putting Africa back on the rainforest conservation map.