The Congo Rainforest
By Rhett A. ButlerAugust 1, 2020
The Congo is the Earth's second largest river by volume, draining an area of 3.7 million square kilometers (1.4 million square miles) known as the Congo Basin. Much of the basin is covered by rich tropical rainforests and swamps. Together these ecosystems make up the bulk of Central Africa's rainforest, which at 178 million hectares (2005) is the world's second largest rainforest.
The Congo Rainforest
While nine countries (Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zambia) have part of their territory in the Congo Basin, conventionally six countries with extensive forest cover in the region are generally associated with the Congo rainforest: Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. (Technically most of Gabon and parts of the Republic of Congo are in the Ogooue River Basin, while a large chunk of Cameroon is in the Sanaga River Basin). Of these six countries, DRC contains the largest area of rainforest, with 107 million hectares, amounting to 60 percent of Central Africa's lowland forest cover.
Country | Primary forest extent 2020 (million hectares) | Primary forest extent Share of land mass (million hectares) | Primary forest loss 2002-2019 | Tree cover extent 2020 (million hectares) | Tree cover change 2002-2019 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cameroon | 16674023 | 35% | -3.3% | 25510913 | 4.2% |
CAR | 5687213 | 9% | -2.2% | 21226104 | 1.7% |
DR Congo | 99751970 | 44% | -4.6% | 187951784 | 7.1% |
Equatorial Guinea | 2187363 | 78% | -2.6% | 2538272 | 4.3% |
Gabon | 22430106 | 87% | -1.1% | 24408798 | 1.7% |
Congo | 20829481 | 61% | -1.5% | 26041450 | 2.9% |
TOTAL | 167560156 | 42% | -3.5% | 287677321 | 5.6% |
This data is from Global Forest Watch 2020 using a 30 percent tree cover thresh hold. All figures are hectares. The data includes tropical forest cover ranging from tropical dry forests to tropical rainforests.
The Congo rainforest is known for its high levels of biodiversity, including more than 600 tree species and 10,000 animal species. Some of its most famous residents include forest elephants, gorillas, chimpanzees, okapi, leopards, hippos, and lions. Some of these species have a significant role in shaping the character of their forest home. For example, researchers have found that Central African forests generally have taller trees but lower density of small trees than forests in the Amazon or Borneo. The reason? Elephants, gorillas, and large herbivores keep the density of small trees very low through predation, reducing competition for large trees. But in areas where these animals have been depleted by hunting, forests tend to be shorter and denser with small trees. Therefore it shouldn't be surprising that old-growth forests in Central Africa store huge volumes of carbon in their vegetation and tree trunks (39 billion tons, according to a 2012 study), serving as an important buffer against climate change.
Threats to the Congo Rainforest
Central Africa's deforestation rate between 1990-2010 was the lowest of any major forest region in the world. However deforesation trended upward during the 2010s with expansion of industrial logging and conversion for large-scale agriculture.
The biggest drivers of deforestation in the Congo rainforest over the past 30 years have been small-scale subsistence agriculture, clearing for charcoal and fuelwood, urban expansion, and mining. Industrial logging has been the largest driver of forest degradation. However it's important not to understate the impact of logging in the region. Logging roads have opened up vast areas of the Congo to commercial hunting, leading to a poaching epidemic in some areas and a more than 60 percent drop in the region's forest elephant population in less than a decade. Furthermore, logging roads have provided access to speculators and small-holders who clear land for agriculture.
Looking forward, the biggest threats to the Congo rainforest come from industrial plantations, especially for palm oil, rubber, and sugar production.
Forest cover in the Congo Basin
Forest loss in the Congo Basin
Annual primary forest loss and tree cover loss in the Congo Basin since 2002.
Biodiversity in the Congo Rainforest
Relatve to other great rainforests, the Congo Basin is known for large, charismatic species of wildlife, including the lowland gorilla; the okapi, a type of forest giraffe; the bonobo; forest elephants; the chimpanzee; leopards; and hippos.
Research has shown that trees in the Congo basin tend to be taller and occur at a lower density compared with Southeast Asia and the Amazon.
Species counts for Congo Basin countries
Country | Birds | Amphibians | Mammals | Reptiles | Fish | Vascular plants |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
D.R. Congo | 1087 | 244 | 430 | 294 | 1480 | 11007 |
Cameroon | 874 | 218 | 335 | 283 | 1042 | 8260 |
Gabon | 606 | 96 | 182 | 138 | 774 | 6651 |
Republic of Congo | 606 | 75 | 197 | 344 | 771 | 6000 |
Central African Republic | 711 | 56 | 219 | 198 | 164 | 3602 |
Equatorial Guinea | 433 | 49 | 174 | 73 | 551 | 3250 |
Key news articles about the Congo Rainforest
Oil exploration at odds with peatland protection in the Congo Basin
The peatlands of the Congo Basin are home to more than just massive carbon stocks and some of our closest — and most threatened — relatives in the animal kingdom, including gorillas and chimpanzees. They may also blanket a giant cauldron of oil, which is tempting investors and governments to develop Central Africa’s Cuvette Centrale, comprising these boggy forests. A recent report, published Feb. 28 and led by the investigative NGO Global Witness, suggests that the surging interest in the Cuvette Centrale’s potential oil reserves is overshadowing efforts to keep the ecosystem intact.
Subsistence farming topples forests near commercial operations in Congo
The effects of commercial logging, mining and farming can ripple beyond the boundaries of the operations, leading to the substantial loss and degradation of nearby forest for subsistence agriculture, a new study on the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has found.
Saving the forests of the Congo Basin
It was an ambitious project from the start: to capture the Congo Basin rainforest in the pages of a book. Stretching across an area larger than Saudi Arabia, the world’s second-largest rainforest straddles six countries in Central Africa. Many are crippled by corruption, civil conflict, and seemingly solution-less problems at the intersection of poverty and environmental stewardship. The loss of the Congo Basin’s forests has lurched along more slowly than in the Amazon rainforest or the jungles of Southeast Asia, but many experts worry that that trend won’t hold. The region’s growing population and the need for economic development have already led to the rising destruction of unique ecosystems to make way for farms, mines and timber plantations.
To protect the Congolese peatlands, protect local land rights
LOKOLAMA, Democratic Republic of Congo — Sometime in March, I found myself trudging forward in a remote swamp in the heart of the Congo rainforest. As I worriedly tried to keep my boots from getting sucked in by the soft, brown mud, I wondered how far we could go on. It was our final day. In the two weeks prior, our team of British and Congolese researchers, together with men from the local village of Lokolama, had cut a 4-kilometer (2.5-mile) trail into this dense, swampy forest. It had proved to be painstakingly slow work. Some days were spent walking up and down the trail for up to eight hours, which only left us with a few hours of sunlight to actually work. But that day, upon reaching the furthest point yet, we tried to push for a few hundred meters more with the little light that was left — all to answer one big question: How much mud were we actually walking on?.
Report finds projects in DRC ‘REDD+ laboratory’ fall short of development, conservation goals
The Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) released a new report that found that 20 REDD+ projects in a province in DRC aren’t set to address forest conservation and economic development — the primary goals of the strategy.
Oil palm, rubber could trigger ‘storm’ of deforestation in the Congo Basin
Earthsight documented approximately 500 square kilometers (193 square miles) of deforestation to clear the way for new rubber and oil palm plantations in Central Africa’s rainforest countries in the past five years. The team also found that companies in five Central African countries hold licenses for industrial agriculture on another 8,400 square kilometers (3,243 square miles) of land. The investigators warn that thousands of hectares of forest could fall to industrial agriculture in the Congo Basin, the world’s second-largest rainforest, if governance of the forest doesn’t improve.
New carbon map will help protect the DRC’s rainforests
The DRC is home to 60 percent of the Congo rainforest, the second-largest contiguous tract of tropical forests in the world. Researchers were able to map the aboveground biomass in the DRC down to the one-hectare level using high-resolution airborne Light Detection and Ranging, or LiDAR, in combination with satellite imagery and machine learning geospatial algorithms.
The people of DRC’s forests
The West African country of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is home to some of the world’s most important forest resources, but is plagued by a host of complex challenges. Here, Leonora Baumann and Etienne Maury tell a few stories of DRC’s forests through the eyes of the people who live there.
Successful forest protection in DRC hinges on community participation
The tens of millions of people in the Democratic Republic of Congo who depend on the forest must be considered to keep the world’s second largest rainforest intact.
World’s largest tropical peatlands discovered in swamp forests of Congo Basin
A study published in the journal Science Advances this month found that, between 2000 and 2013, the global area of intact forest landscape declined by 7.2 percent. Certification of logging concessions, which aims to ensure sustainable forest management practices, had a “negligible” impact on slowing the fragmentation of intact forest landscapes (IFLs) in the Congo Basin, according to the study.
Logging in certified concessions drove intact forest landscape loss in Congo Basin
The peatlands, which weren’t even known to exist as recently as five years ago, were revealed to cover 145,500 square kilometers (or more than 17,500 square miles), an area larger than England, and to sequester some 30 billion metric tons of carbon.
An agribusiness revolution is needed to save Africa’s last great apes
Since 2005 up to 227,000 square kilometers (87,645 square miles), an area nearly the size of Ghana, has been acquired in sub-Saharan Africa for large-scale agricultural and forestry concessions. And more concessions are on the way.
Roads to ruin: Africa’s massive infrastructure expansions could have major consequences
Dysfunction plagues DRC’s logging industry, say conservation and watchdog groups, but the government and timber companies want to grow the sector.
‘Chaos’ in Congo’s logging sector
Researchers find the continent’s “development corridors” stand to affect important wildlife habitat and thousands of protected areas.
Nearly 90 percent of logging in the DRC is illegal
The forestry sector in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is completely out of control, according to a new eye-opening report. Put together by the Chatham House, the report estimates that at least 87 percent of logging in the DRC was illegal in 2011, making the DRC possibly the most high-risk country in the world for purchasing legal wood products.
NGO hits out at study for downplaying logging threat in Congo rainforest
(07/23/2013) Global Witness has called in question conclusions reached in a study on logging in the Congo rainforest. The group, which has published a series of investigative reports on abuses by logging companies operating the world's second largest tropical forest, said that a review published Monday in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B '[presents] a misleading and inaccurate picture of the present and growing threats to the Congo Basin rainforest.'
Hunting, logging could threaten long-term health of Congo forests by wiping out key animals
(07/23/2013) Unsustainable hunting of forest elephants, gorillas, forest antelopes, and other seed-dispersers could have long-term impacts on the health and resilience of Congo Basin rainforests, warns a study published today in a special issue of the journal Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society B. Conducting a review of more than 160 papers and reports on trends in wildlife populations, hunting, and land use in the Congo Basin, an international team of researchers conclude that unless effective management plans are put into place, hunting pressure in the region is likely to increase, with knock-on ecological effects.
Activists warn of industrial palm oil expansion in Congo rainforest
(02/21/2013) Industrial oil palm plantations are spreading from Malaysia and Indonesia to the Congo raising fears about deforestation and social conflict. A new report by The Rainforest Foundation UK (RFUK), dramatically entitled The Seeds of Destruction, announces that new palm oil plantations in the Congo rainforest will soon increase fivefold to half a million hectares, an area nearly the size of Delaware. But conservationists warn that by ignoring the lessons of palm oil in Southeast Asia, this trend could be disastrous for the region's forests, wildlife, and people.
Foreign loggers and corrupt officials flouting logging moratorium in the Democratic Republic of Congo
(11/08/2012) In 2002 the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) announced a moratorium on commercial logging in a bid to save rapidly falling forests, however a new report by Global Witness alleges that industrial loggers are finding a way around the logging freeze. Through unscrupulous officials, foreign companies are abusing artisanal permits—meant for local community logging—to clear-cut wide swathes of tropical forest in the country. These logging companies are often targeting an endangered tree—wenge (Millettia laurentii)—largely for buyers in China and Europe.
Deforestation increases in the Congo rainforest
(03/20/2012) Deforestation in the Congo Basin has increased sharply since the 1990s, reports an extensive new assessment of forests in the six-nation region. Released by the Central African Forests Commission (COMIFAC) and members of the Congo Basin Forest Partnership, The State of the Forest finds that the region's annual gross deforestation rate doubled from 0.13 percent to 0.26 percent between the 1990s and the 2000-2005 period. Gross degradation caused by logging, fire, and other impacts increased from 0.07 percent to 0.14 percent on an annual basis. Despite the jump, rates in the Congo Basin remain well below those in Latin America and Southeast Asia, but the region is seen as a prime target for future agroindustrial expansion.
Unsung heroes: the life of a wildlife ranger in the Congo
(11/01/2011) The effort to save wildlife from destruction worldwide has many heroes. Some receive accolades for their work, but others live in obscurity, doing good—sometimes even dangerous—work everyday with little recognition. These are not scientists or big-name conservationists, but wildlife rangers, NGO staff members, and low level officials. One of these conservation heroes is Bunda Bokitsi, chief guard of the Etate Patrol Post for Salonga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In a nation known for a prolonged civil war, desperate poverty, and corruption—as well as an astounding natural heritage—Bunda Bokitsi works everyday to secure Salonga National Park from poachers, bushmeat hunters, and trappers.
African forests store 25% of tropical forest carbon
(06/22/2011) Forests in sub-Saharan Africa account for roughly a quarter of total tropical forest carbon, according to a comprehensive assessment of the world's carbon stocks published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Logging roads rapidly expanding in Congo rainforest
(06/07/2007) Logging roads are rapidly expanding in the Congo rainforest, report researchers who have constructed the first satellite-based maps of road construction in Central Africa. The authors say the work will help conservation agencies, governments, and scientists better understand how the expansion of logging is impacting the forest, its inhabitants, and global climate.
RECENT CONGO RAINFOREST NEWS
Shea’s silent guardians restore Uganda’s traditional parklands (Feb 7 2025)
- In Uganda’s Pader district, communities are reviving shea parklands — traditional agroforestry systems where farmers have maintained shea trees alongside crops for generations.
- These managed landscapes support both farming and biodiversity while providing crucial ecosystem services through carefully spaced trees and traditional management practices.
- Drawing on Indigenous agricultural knowledge, farmers are integrating shea trees with food crops through methods proven to improve soil health and yields.
- While their efforts show promise, charcoal production and agricultural expansion threaten these traditional systems and the communities that depend on them.
Study says land restoration worldwide can be funded with tiny fraction of global GDP (Feb 7 2025)
- A new study reveals that implementing global land restoration pledges across 115 nations would cost between $311 billion and $2.1 trillion, representing only 0.04-0.27% of annual global GDP over 10 years.
- The research analyzed 243 restoration projects worldwide, finding that costs vary significantly by method: from $185 per hectare ($75 per acre) for forest management, to more than $3,000 per hectare ($1,200 per acre) for silvopasture systems.
- While nearly half of all global restoration commitments are concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa, this region would need to spend 3.7% of its annual GDP to fulfill its pledges, highlighting the need for international financial support.
- The study’s cost estimates focus primarily on direct implementation costs and exclude important factors like monitoring and opportunity costs, suggesting actual restoration expenses could be higher than projected.
In São Paulo, free-flight lessons help teach macaws to survive in the wild (Feb 7 2025)
- In an unprecedented project in the municipality of São Simão, blue-and-yellow macaws born in captivity were trained in free-flight techniques before being introduced into the wild.
- Traditionally, in psittacine reintroduction projects, captive chicks are only released into the wild at 2 or 3 years of age; with no experience in finding food or defending themselves against predators, many end up dying.
- According to the project’s coordinators, the initiative could signal a new method to be used in parrot and macaw reintroduction programs, offering lower costs and higher chances of success.
The world’s kelp needs help — less than 2% is highly protected (Feb 7 2025)
- Kelp forests support a kaleidoscope of biodiversity and perform crucial ecosystem functions, yet they are in trouble globally.
- A recent journal commentary shows that just 15.9% of kelp forests are in protected areas, and only 1.6% of them are in areas with the highest levels of protection.
- The authors said they hope their findings will motivate policymakers to include kelp forests in international conservation targets, such as the “30×30” mandate to protect 30% of Earth’s land and sea by 2030.
Mongabay series on illegal timber and cattle wins honorable mention in Brazil journalism prize (Feb 7 2025)
Blood Timber, a Mongabay series on illegal logging and cattle ranching in the eastern Brazilian Amazon, has received an honorable mention at the recent Banrisul ARI Journalism Award, a prize recognizing excellence in journalism in Brazil. The three-part series by journalist Karla Mendes revealed a correlation between environmental crimes and killings of Indigenous Guajajara people, […]
Report reveals staggering levels of wildlife trafficking in Hispanic America (Feb 7 2025)
- Crimes against wildlife increasingly threaten biodiversity in Latin America, which is home to 40% of the world’s plant and animal species.
- Between 2017 and 2022, almost 2,000 wildlife seizures and poaching incidents were recorded in the region, according to a recent report. The analysis looked at poaching and trafficking covered in the media in 18 countries across Hispanic America.
- The incidents involved more than 100,000 wild animals and birds, a vast majority of them live, belonging to nearly 700 species; reptiles represented more than half of the seized wildlife.
- The report calls for increased resources to fight wildlife crimes, better law enforcement and strengthening cooperation between countries in the region to combat wildlife crimes.
Indigenous protests in Brazil topple law seen as threat to rural schools (Feb 7 2025)
After 23 days of protests, Indigenous groups and teachers in the Brazilian state of Pará have successfully pressured Governor Helder Barbalho to revoke a controversial education law that favored online learning in remote communities and slashed benefits for teachers. The protests erupted in the state capital Belém, host city of the next U.N. climate summit, […]
Surge in rat numbers linked to climate warming, urbanization: Study (Feb 7 2025)
What’s new: Cities experiencing warmer temperatures, fewer green spaces and denser human populations are seeing a rise in rat numbers, a recent study shows. What the study says: Jonathan Richardson, a biology professor at the University of Richmond, U.S., and his colleagues wanted to check if anecdotal media claims about increasing urban rat (Rattus spp.) […]
Striking image of badger and graffiti twin wins top photography prize (Feb 7 2025)
A badger glancing at a gun-wielding graffiti version of itself has won the 2025 Wildlife Photographer of the Year, developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London. British photographer Ian Wood took the image, titled “No Access,” at the seaside town of St. Leonards-on-Sea in England after chancing upon the Eurasian badger (Meles meles) […]
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