Earth’s “second lung” is under threat. The loss of forests in the Congo Basin would set back the fight against climate change by 20 years

This may sound too alarmist or far-fetched to be true, but science suggests that we are headed for this alternate future because of our inaction and negligence in the face of climate change.

We urgently need to develop a generation of African scientists capable of studying, documenting, monitoring and explaining the complex ecological processes that have structured the vital ecosystem of the Congo Basin, as well as the threats posed by modern human activities to its very existence.

Twenty-five years ago, Brazil launched the large-scale Biosphere-Atmosphere experiment in Amazonia (LBA). The program was led by Brazilians and supported by the international community to the tune of 100 million dollars. Involving 1,700 participants, including 990 Brazilians, it revolutionized our understanding of the Amazon rainforest and its role in the Earth system. One of his greatest legacies was the creation of a cadre of Brazilian scientists. As a result, Brazil is now widely recognized as the leading nation in the world in rainforest monitoring and is at the forefront of rainforest science. The Amazon Science Panel grew out of this initiative and includes 280 scientists, who published the 2021 benchmark Amazon Rating Report before COP 26 in Glasgow.

While the Amazon has attracted huge attention from international donors, the Congo Basin, Earth’s second largest rainforest, has been largely neglected. Only now is a group of indigenous scientists emerging, despite the context of insufficient attention and funding from international donors.

The funds that exist for the conservation and sustainable management of the Congo Basin, such as the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI) or the Congo Basin Forest Partnership, are insufficient to support the science that is essential to our understanding and ability to manage the ecosystem. There are very few long-term databases and research stations – and those that do are constantly struggling to raise even relatively modest funds on an annual basis.

Thanks to AFRITRON, a network of permanent botanical plots initiated by Professor Simon Lewis of the University of Leeds in the UK, and some key long-term sites such as Lopé, Epulu, Kibale and Budongo, where stubborn researchers have turned away . decades, despite the general lack of interest, we have some indications of the importance of the Congo Basin as a carbon sink. Indeed, although it is only a third of the area of ​​the Amazon, the Congo Basin contains about 40% of the carbon stock and its forests are proving more resilient to climate change than the southern Amazon. Today, they represent a much larger carbon sink, despite their smaller size.

Incomplete, fragmented or preliminary studies suggest that the ecosystem services provided by the forests of the Congo Basin, such as the cooling effect of transpiration from their leaves and the atmospheric rivers that flow to the Ethiopian and Sahel countries, generate the precipitation that fills the Blue. The Nile and irrigated Egypt are essential to African and global stability.

Make no mistake: If we lose the forests of the Congo Basin, the global fight against climate change will be delayed by 15 to 20 years. We would also lose the water, the blood of Africa that is pumped from its green heart – and the consequences will be counted in hundreds of millions of climate refugees in the coming decades.

Simply put, Africa is not viable without the forests of the Congo Basin – or at least that is the indication of what little evidence there is.

In my new role as Special Envoy of the Scientific Panel on the Congo Basin (SPCB), it is my duty to sound the alarm. We need to build more bridges between scientists, donors and policy makers. SPCB, along with our sister initiative, the Congo Basin Science Initiative, need your support and investment. For our world to remain ecologically stable, we need to better understand and conserve this critical ecosystem, home to 80 of millions of people and sustains the lives of an additional 300 million rural Africans in neighboring regions.

The depth of understanding we need will not come from researchers in developed countries studying remotely sensed satellite images. We need Congo Basin scientists on the ground in the forest to learn from indigenous people and piece together the complex interactions between plants, animals, people, climate, hydrology and geology.

We are inspired and looking to learn and develop strong connections with the Scientific Panel for Amazon. By the time the SCPB lands at COP30, the tropical forest COP, to be held in Belem in 2025, our first assessment report will be ready.

With the lungs of the world under existential threat, we must mobilize to create lasting change.

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