The Congo Basin

The Congo basin is the second largest rainforest in the world, The Congo basin covers 1,700,000 square kilometres- roughly 18% of all global rainforests and covers 6 African countries.  The Congo basin has vast biomes, such as rivers, forests, savannas, swamps and flooded forests the differential of biomes allows for many animals to be able to thrive. Throughout the Congo basin, there is approximately 10,000 species of plants, 400 species of mammals, 1,000 species of birds and 700 types of fish. The amount oof land allows 150+ ethnic groups to be able to thrive for over 50,000 years. The Congo basin has extremely high rainfall with annually receiving 1500mm- 2000mm (World Wildlife Fund, 2024).

The Congo is under extreme pressure from deforestation, because of how minerally rich the terrain is and continually grows to be. The terrain consists of timber, petroleum, diamonds, gold, coltan, oil extraction and fossil fuel mining (World Wildlife Fund, 2024). Up to 440,000 square kilometers of the Congo basin has already been destroyed by logging and mining (Rainforest Foundation Norway, n.d.).  These materials are extremely value. Another main threat is illegal animal trading, hunting and poaching. In Congo, over 1 million tons of illegal bushmeat is consumed annually, from the Congo basin alone (World Wildlife Fund, 2024).  This causes mass endangerment to the main inhabitants. The main threat to the Congo basin is urbanization of the forest and the surrounding area (World Wildlife Fund, 2024). There are plans of palm oil, sugar and rubber factories and facilities to be built, as well as with roads, buildings and piping to be implemented throughout. Considering only 14% of the Congo basin is protected, it is projected that over 30% to have been destroyed by 2030 (Gregorio, 2021).

The Congo basin is home to many endangered animals, such as Chimpanzees, cross river gorilla, mountain gorilla, African elephant, African forest elephant, Rhinos, Westland lowland gorilla, with leopards and hippos also naturally being found in the Congo basin (Rainforest Trust, 2024). The Congo basin is also home to some of the most endangered animals in the world, African Forest Elephant, Okapi, Grauer’s Gorilla, Bonobo and Congo Peacock. Okapis or Okapia johnstoni are an endangered species. The okapi is the closest living relative to a giraffe, however, okapis are zebra cross deer. The okapi lives for roughly 30 years – eating leaves and plants – a herbivore. The okapi can reach up to 2.5 meters long and 1.5 meters tall and maintains a weight of 200-300kg. there are approximately 15,000 okapis left in the wild, this number is rapidly declining because of poaching and hunting. Okapis are hunted for their meat and skin. They also struggle to repopulate because females can only carry one calf at a time (National Geographic, 2024).

Although the Congo basin is getting ravaged by destruction, there are many companies working to ensure that the forest is staying alive and thriving for as long as possible. WWF is working in areas of the Congo basin to ensure extraction of materials is done as safely as possible to limit harm to the rainforest (World Wildlife Fund, 2024). WWF is also replanting trees throughout the Congo basin, they have currently planted over 10 million trees to save the Congo basin (World Wildlife Fund, 2024). There are also many large conservation areas to prevent logging and destruction. There is also protection on the natural inhabitants, animals have particular laws to prevent poaching and hunting; the indigenous population throughout the Congo basin are also protected. There are also policies on urbanization to guarantee the sustainability of the forest stays as high as possible. Currently over 17% of the Congo basin is protected but by 2030 it is projected that 30% of the forest to be protected (Gregorio, 2021).   

Proposal 1 will benefit the Congo basin because, if the forest becomes a national park. Then there is more opportunity for growth and endangered animals can repopulate. Proposal 1 will also benefit the Congo basin because of the environmental, economic and social components. The positive environmental aspects of proposal 1 is the national park will allow more of the forest to grow and flourish and allow the animals to thrive and re populate to boost population. The economic factor is this will make revenue and will boost the Congo’s economy and will be able to provide better expansion and protection, and the social factor is it will make the forests a social environment between people and the animals that inhabit the Congo basin.  However, there are also negatives for proposal 1. The negative environmental impact is that building enclosures, buildings and fencing can majorly damage the Congo basin. There are also negative economic and social factors, these include building the national park will cost a lot of money and the animals can be scared of humans because of no prior interaction.

Proposal 2, much like proposal 1 has many benefits. By majority of the rainforest being replanted, it will limit access for material extraction, allow protection for animals and will promote growth/ expansion of the rainforest. Much like proposal 1 there are positive environmental, economic and social factors. A positive environmental factor is that it will provide a larger area of the forest to be inhabited by animals and will also permit more area for growth. Along with this there are economic and social factors as well. These include Ensure the safety of animals, limit then number getting harmed and will limit deforestation and replanting trees will give the animals more of an area to explore, hide, repopulate, eat, explore and more. However there are also negative environmental, economic and social factors. A negative environmental factor is replanting trees can disturb the inhabitants, animals and natural resources. The negative economic and social factors include replanting trees is expensive and with people and machinery replanting trees it can damage the Congo basin. Recommendation When considering which proposal will be better for the Congo basin, it is clear that proposal 2 is better. Proposal 2 is better because it has better positive outcomes for not only the animals but the Congo basin in general because of the reward that replanting trees will do to the Congo basin. This is also supported by the fact that there are limited negatives to replanting trees throughout the Congo basin.

Gregorio, J. (2021, May 27). World ATLAS. Retrieved from The Congo Rainforest: https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/where-is-the-congo-rainforest.html

National Geographic. (2024). national geographic . Retrieved from Oakpi: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/okapi

Rainforest Foundation Norway. (n.d.). RFN. Retrieved from The Congo Basin: Green tresuare under threat: The Congo Basin: Green treasure under threat – The Rainforest Foundation (regnskog.no)

Rainforest Trust. (2024). Rainforest trust . Retrieved from Congo Basin: https://www.rainforesttrust.org/our-impact/global-scope/congo-basin/#:~:text=The%20Congo%20Basin%20is%20a%20mosaic%20of%20forests%2C,Elephant%2C%20Okapi%2C%20Grauer%E2%80%99s%20Gorilla%2C%20Bonobo%20and%20Congo%20Peacock.

World Wildlife Fund. (2024). World Wildlife Fund. Retrieved from Congo Basin: https://www.worldwildlife.org/places/congo-basin