US EditionCongo Basin Forests Have 10 Years to Avoid Collapse
Extraction threatens 38% of community forests with oil and gas, 42% with mining, jeopardizing biodiversity and Indigenous livelihoods in the Congo Basin, the world's second-largest rainforest.
- On Monday, an executive summary by 177 experts was released for COP30 in Belém, revealing governments and investors seek minerals, timber and oil in the Congo Basin, threatening local and Indigenous communities.
- Governments and companies are driving extraction by prioritising growth and revenues, with national governments of Congo Basin countries viewing mining as fiscal engines while corruption limits community benefits despite a $23.2 trillion natural asset valuation and $1.15 trillion annual ecosystem services value.
- New data show extensive overlaps between community lands and extractive blocks, with 38% of community forests in the Congo Basin threatened by oil and gas, 42% by mining, and 6% by logging.
- Communities face immediate losses as forests degrade and livelihoods suffer, with the GATC urging direct climate finance and the Kinshasa Declaration demanding an end to unsustainable extraction.
- Protecting the Basin has become a major focus ahead of COP30, with over $2.5 billion committed via The Belem Call to safeguard the Congo Basin's over 90.9 billion tons of stored carbon and 600 million tonnes annual CO2 absorption.
21 Articles
21 Articles
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Exclusive: European countries back $2.5 billion initiative to protect Congo rainforest
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