The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is not a country people know much about. War and conflict are perhaps the words that come first to mind, based on years of brief news reports about a country that doesn’t really matter enough to worry about.
The problem is that we should worry, now more than ever. 50% of Africa’s forested land lies within its borders. 75% of the Congo River basin is there, vast tracts of virgin forest unexplored and largely unknown. Think of the flora and fauna that lives in this habitat. Think of the unique animals that exist only here.
There are Forest elephants, a smaller version of the African elephants that roams the plains but with physical similarities to the Asian elephant. Adapted to live in the forest, they eat huge quantities of fruit and live in small family groups of one or two females with off spring. There are Mountain and Lowland Gorillas, the Western Lowland Gorilla being the most numerous of all remaining gorilla species. There is also the Bonobo, primates that are probably humans closest living relative, sharing over 98% of our DNA. Similar to the chimpanzee (also found in the DRC’s forests), they tend to be smaller and with shorter limbs. They are only found in certain small areas of the DRC.
Deforestation for logging and farming, poaching and hunting for bush meat are all major threats to the forests and their inhabitants. But in a country of grinding poverty, how can the developed world tell the DRC to sort out these problems and protect the forests? In Cancun, Mexico at the end of 2010 a programme was adopted at the UN climate conference that created a mechanism to help. The REDD+ scheme allows developed countries with high carbon emissions to fund developing nations with threatened forests to manage, improve and protect those areas. That way, the country giving the money can use the carbon saved by protecting these areas to offset its own emissions. So far there is nearly US$ 5 billion pledged.
The scheme has started in the Congo, and with it some hope for the creatures that depend on the forests. The Environment Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Conga Jose Endundo signed a deal earlier this month with Ecosystem Restoration Associates of Canada. It gave ERA management of a huge tract of land – over 300,000 hectares – in the Mai-Ndombe forest in Bandundu province. Their job is to stop deforestation, restore areas affected by encroachment and work with the local communities to develop sustainable farming methods.
It’s a start. Ivory from Forest elephants is still streaming out of the country – over 1,000 tusks were discovered at the Port of Zanzibar this week, many originating from the Congo, in sacks of fish awaiting shipping to Malaysia. For the creatures of the forest as well as ourselves, let’s hope the preservation and protection of these last great forests has not begun too late.
