Deforestation in the Congo Basin Rainforest

The Republic of Congo the initiator of the alliance between the Three Great Basins, was the host of the Founding Summit of the Amazon – Congo – Borneo – Mekong – Southeast Asia, Summit of the Three Basins, Biodiversity Ecosystems, and Tropical Forests (S3B EBFT) in Brazzaville.

In a declaration issued at the end of the Summit of the world's three great basins of the Amazon, the Congo and Borneo-Mekong in Brazzaville, the Heads of State and Government undertook, among other things, to: 
● to strengthen cooperation between the three basins, which are home to 80% of the world's tropical forests and two-thirds of terrestrial biodiversity; 
● to recognize the unity of enhanced cooperation between the three basins; 
● to recognize the sovereign management of biodiversity, forests and associated resources by the countries that make up the three basins; ● to pool and capitalize on the knowledge, experience, resources and achievements existing in each of the basins; 
● and to introduce a sustainable system of remuneration for the ecosystem services provided by the three basins.

The One Forest Summit held in Libreville, Gabon on March 1, established a new fund to reward countries for “exemplary” action to protect their forests, safeguard their vital stocks of carbon and preserve their biodiversity, as it called for a “fair deal” between forested countries and the international community.

With the world facing a climate crisis, protecting the Congo Basin has never been more critical. Unfortunately, time is running out. Here is why urgent action is needed to prevent irreversible damage to this crucial ecosystem.

The Congo Basin is often referred to as the “lungs of Africa” due to its immense capacity to absorb and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. According to a recent study published in Nature, the Congo Basin rainforests absorb 370 million metric tons of the planet’s carbon emissions every year which is more than the Amazon rainforest.

Deforestation in the Congo Basin increased in 2021 by 30,000 hectares (or 4.9 percent) compared to the 2018-2020 period, reaching a total of 636,000 hectares.

At Cop26 in Glasgow in 2021, 140 countries including the six in the region signed a declaration pledging to halt global deforestation to reverse its rising trend by 2030. “To achieve the global goal of ending deforestation by 2030, a reduction in forest cover loss of 10% per year between 2020 and 2030 is needed in all countries”, the authors say. “Based on 2021 trends, only Gabon and the Republic of the Congo are currently aligned with this trajectory.”

Six Central African countries – Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo), Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and the Republic of Congo – teamed up with a group of donors to protect the Congo Basin rainforests. 

While deforestation rates in the Congo Basin showed a downward trend from 2015-20, the Basin still saw 2.2 million hectares of forest loss and 1.5 million hectares of forest degradation in that period.

The Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP) was established to bring together governments, NGOs, and other stakeholders to promote sustainable forest management in the region.

Between 2000 and 2005,  exercise estimates annual net deforestation to 0.17% and annual net degradation to 0.09%. 

According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, since 1990, the rate of deforestation in the Congo Basin has remained at 0.20%, which equates to the loss of 311,000 hectares or about 1,200 square miles annually. This amounts to destroying forests the size of the U.S. state of Delaware every two years.

Illegal logging and mining became increasingly common in the Congo Basin, and the construction of roads and other infrastructure in previously remote areas made it easier to access and exploit the forest.

The annual rate of net deforestation in Congo Basin is estimated to 0.09% between 1990 and 2000 and of net degradation to 0.05%.