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35-769: The Bomokandi River is a river in the Congo Basin in the Democratic Republic of the Congo . The river originates in the southeast of Haut-Uélé province near Gombari , and flows in a ENE direction through Haut-Uélé and Bas-Uélé past Rungu and Poko to join the Uele River at Bambili . This article related to a river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Congo Basin The rainforest in

70-447: A global level, Congo's forests act as the planet's second lung, counterpart to the rapidly dwindling Amazon. They are a huge " carbon sink ", trapping carbon that could otherwise remain carbon dioxide. The Congo Basin holds roughly 8% of the world's forest-based carbon. If these woodlands are deforested, the carbon they trap will be released into the atmosphere. Predictions for future unabated deforestation estimate that by 2050 activities in

105-533: A mean size exceeding 500 km2 in some parts of the Congo Basin. Temperatures in the Congo Basin (usually between 20 and 30 °C) are lower than in the African desert regions to the north ( The Sahara ) and to the south ( Kalahari ). The differences in temperature between the deserts and the Congo Basin is important for driving wind systems known as African easterly jets , which affect climate and weather in

140-415: A new forestry code that requires companies to invest in local development and follow a sustainable, 25-year cycle of rotational logging. When a company is granted a concession from the central government to log in Congo, it must sign an agreement with the local chiefs and hereditary land owners, who give permission for it to extract the trees in return for development packages. In theory, the companies must pay

175-635: Is home to the okapi , African forest elephant , pygmy hippopotamus , bongo (antelope) , chimpanzee , bonobo and the Congo peafowl . Its apex predator is the Leopard , which are larger than their savannah counterparts due to lack of competition from other large predators. The basin is home to the endangered western lowland gorilla . In 2010, the United Nations Environment Programme warned that gorillas could be extinct from

210-674: Is open for fossil fuel exploration. Even in the absence of local disturbance from these activities, this area is the most vulnerable store of tropical peat carbon in the world, as its climate is already much drier than that of the other tropical peatlands in the Southeast Asia and the Amazon Rainforest . A 2022 study suggests that the geologically recent conditions between 7,500 years ago and 2,000 years ago were already dry enough to cause substantial peat release from this area, and that these conditions are likely to recur in

245-414: Is relatively low to the north of the equator (<80 mm per month). In southern hemisphere winter, rainfall is instead lower to the south of the equator (<80 mm per month). The annual rhythm of the wind systems which carry water vapour account for the rainfall seasonality. Much of the rainfall is derived from large Mesoscale convective systems . The systems last over 11 hours on average and have

280-599: Is uncertain, it is likely that extreme rainfall events will become more extreme owing to the increases in water vapour in the atmosphere. Owing to the global climatic importance of the Congo Basin, it has been suggested that, along with the Amazon, severe changes in the rainfall or climate of the Congo Rainforest could act as a ' tipping point ', with widespread impacts on the Earth System. The Congo forest

315-644: The Chambeshi , the Uele and Ubangi rivers in the upper reaches and the Lualaba River draining wetlands in the middle reaches. Because of the young age and active uplift of the East African Rift at the headwaters , the river's yearly sediment load is very large, but the drainage basin occupies large areas of low relief throughout much of its area. It is delineated largely by swells including

350-623: The DRC will release roughly the same amount of carbon dioxide as the United Kingdom has emitted over the last 60 years. A 2013 study by British scientists showed that deforestation in the Congo Basin rainforest was slowing down. In 2017, British scientists discovered that peatlands in the Cuvette Centrale , which cover a total of 145,500 sq km, contain 30 billion tonnes of carbon, or 20 years of U.S. fossil fuel emissions. In 2021,

385-662: The Lopori , Maringa , Ikelemba , Tshuapa , Lomela and Lokoro , drain westward. The region lies on the equator , where the climate is tropical and humid. Rainfall averages 2,000 mm annually. The Eastern Congolian swamp forests extend along the Congo River and its chief tributaries, and cover wide areas in the western portion of the Cuvette Centrale. These swamp forests are seasonally or permanently flooded. The Central Congolian lowland forests extend across

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420-542: The Sahel and Southern Africa . Future climate projections indicate that the region will get hotter in response to global climate change. There is more uncertainty over how average rainfall in the region will change, with the climate models used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) disagreeing on core elements of the rainfall distribution in the region. While the average rainfall change

455-586: The Bie, Mayumbe, Adamlia, Nil-Congo , East African, and Zambian Swells. The basin ends where the river empties into the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean. The basin is a total of 3.7 million square kilometers and is home to some of the largest undisturbed stands of tropical rainforest on the planet, in addition to large wetlands. Countries wholly or partially in the Congo region: The first inhabitants of

490-519: The Congo ). Fourteen percent of the humid forest is designated as protected. The Congo Basin is a large depression within the Congo Craton , making it a patch of relatively recent ( Phanerozoic -aged, and mostly Mesozoic & onwards) sedimentary rock within a large, otherwise extremely ancient ( Archean -aged) piece of exposed continental crust. The deformation of the Craton began as early as

525-574: The Congo . Some definitions consider the region to extend into the Republic of the Congo as well. It lies in the center of the Congo Basin , bounded on the west, north and east by the arc of the Congo River . A lake covered the region during the Pliocene epoch, which was gradually filled with sediments, and the surface of the basin is very flat. Slow-moving tributaries of the Congo, including

560-533: The Congo Basin is the largest rainforest in Africa and second only to the Amazon rainforest in size, with 300 million hectares compared to the 800 million hectares in the Amazon. Because of its size and diversity the basin's forest is important for mitigating climate change in its role as a carbon sink . However, deforestation and degradation of the ecology by the impacts of climate change may increase stress on

595-466: The Congo Basin area were believed to be pygmies , and at that time, the dense forests and wet climate kept the population of the region low, with the prevention of hunter-gatherer society, whose remnants of their culture survive to the present day. Eventually Bantu peoples migrated there and founded the Kingdom of Kongo . Belgium , France , and Portugal later established colonial control over

630-496: The Congo Basin. The Congo Basin is a globally important climatic region with annual rainfall of between 1500 and 2000 mm. It is one of three hotspots of deep convection ( thunderstorms ) in the tropics, the other two being over the Maritime continent and the Amazon . These three regions together drive the climate circulation of the tropics and beyond. The Congo Basin has the highest lightning strike frequency of anywhere on

665-642: The Cretaceous, possibly due to a shock from a sudden decrease in the rate of seafloor spreading of the southern Mid-Atlantic Ridge , are the source of the region's famous diamonds . By the Cenozoic , an uplift in the borders of the Cuvette Centrale had blocked any further marine connections. During the Paleogene , high rainfall turned the basin into a series of marshy ponds and swamps. A shift to more arid conditions with seasonal droughts occurred with

700-827: The basin, and this continued into the Early Cretaceous . By the start of the Late Cretaceous , a connection with the Trans-Saharan seaway led to a significant marine incursion into the basin (evidence of an earlier, Late Jurassic marine intrusion is disputed), causing it to serve as a connection between the southern Atlantic Ocean and the Tethys Ocean . Many of the formations deposited by these freshwater and marine habitats are rich in pollen, invertebrate, and vertebrate (primarily fish) fossils . Kimberlite pipes that are thought to have formed during

735-589: The case, there could be a financial incentive for protecting forests. L’Île Mbiye, an island in the Lualaba River in Kisangani , is part of a project about forest ecosystem conservation, conducted by Stellenbosch University . Democratic Republic of the Congo is also looking to expand the area of forest under protection, for which it hopes to secure compensation through emerging markets for forest carbon. The main Congolese environmental organization working to save

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770-477: The deforestation rate of the Congolese rainforest increased by 5%. The Global Forest Atlas estimated that the logging industry covers from 44 to 66 million hectares of forest. A study published in 2019 in Nature Sustainability showed that 54,000 miles of roads for forest concessions were built between 2003 and 2018, reaching a total of 143,500 miles. A moratorium on logging in the Congo forest

805-582: The entire region by the late 19th century. The General Act of the Berlin Conference of 1885 gave a precise definition to the "conventional basin" of the Congo, which included the entire actual basin plus some other areas. The General Act bound its signatories to neutrality within the conventional basin, but this was not respected during the First World War . The World Resources Institute estimated that 80 million people live in and around

840-522: The forest ecosystem, in turn making the hydrology of the basin more variable. A 2012 study found that the variability in precipitation caused by climate change will negatively affect economic activity in the basin. Eight sites of the Congo Basin are inscribed on the World Heritage List , five being also on the list of World Heritage in Danger (all five located in Democratic Republic of

875-409: The forests is an NGO called OCEAN, which serves as the link between international outfits like Greenpeace and local community groups in the concessions. 0°00′00″N 22°00′00″E  /  0.0000°N 22.0000°E  / 0.0000; 22.0000 Cuvette Centrale The Cuvette Centrale ( French : "Central Basin") is a region of forests and wetlands in the Democratic Republic of

910-423: The forests of the Congo Basin. In other words, while this peatland only covers 4% of the Congo Basin area, its carbon content is equal to that of all trees in the other 96%. It was then estimated that if all of that peat burned, the atmosphere would absorb the equivalent of 20 years of current United States carbon dioxide emissions, or three years of all anthropogenic CO 2 emissions. This threat prompted

945-551: The government nearly $ 18 million rent per year for these concessions, of which 40% should be returned to provincial governments for investment in social development of the local population in the logged areas. In its current form, the Kyoto Protocol does not reward so-called "avoided deforestation"—initiatives that protect forest from being cut down. But many climate scientists and policymakers hope that negotiations for Kyoto's successor will include such measures. If this were

980-412: The greater Congo Basin in a matter of 15 years. The Congo Basin is the largest forest in Africa. More than 10,000 plant species can be found in and around the forest. The humid forests cover 1.6 million km². The Congo Basin is an important source of African teak , used for building furniture and flooring. An estimated 40 million people depend on these woodlands, surviving on traditional livelihoods. At

1015-574: The late Cambrian or early Ordovician and continued over the Paleozoic , but the deformation over this period led to rapid erosion of much of this Paleozoic rock, creating a large unconformity . Sediment started to rapidly accumulate in the basin from the Mesozoic ( Triassic ) up to the present day. Deposits throughout the Jurassic suggest the presence of a freshwater, lacustrine habitat in

1050-438: The original estimate of 145,500 square kilometres (56,200 sq mi) to 167,600 square kilometres (64,700 sq mi)) and depth (from 2 m (6.6 ft) to (1.7 m (5.6 ft)) but also noted that only 8% of this peat carbon is currently covered by the existing protected areas . For comparison, 26% of its peat is located in areas open to logging , mining or palm oil plantations, and nearly all of this area

1085-548: The planet. The high rainfall supports the second largest rainforest on Earth, which is a globally significant carbon sink and an important component of the global carbon cycle . Averaged across the whole basin, there are two major rainfall seasons in March to May and September to November. In both hemispheres the rainfall maximises in September to November, at above 210 mm per month. In northern hemisphere winter, rainfall

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1120-426: The remaining portion of the region. The swamp forests are home to endangered species of megafauna, including lowland gorillas and forest elephants . In 2017, it was discovered that 40% of the Cuvette Centrale wetlands are underlain with a dense layer of peat , which contains around 30 petagrams (billions of tons) of carbon . This amounts to 28% of all tropical peat carbon, equivalent to the carbon contained in all

1155-408: The signing of Brazzaville Declaration in March 2018: an agreement between Democratic Republic of Congo , the Republic of Congo and Indonesia (a country with longer experience of managing its own tropical peatlands) aiming to promote better management and conservation of this region. However, 2022 research by the same team which had originally discovered this peatland not only revised its area (from

1190-667: The start of the Neogene . Later in the Neogene, a sudden shift to fluvial deposits suggests a dramatic return to wetter conditions. The following sedimentary geological formations have been deposited in the basin: Congo is a traditional name for the equatorial Middle Africa that lies between the Gulf of Guinea and the African Great Lakes . The basin begins in the highlands of the East African Rift system with input from

1225-589: Was agreed between the World Bank and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in May 2002. The World Bank agreed to provide $ 90 million of development aid to Democratic Republic of the Congo with the provision that the government did not issue any new concessions granting logging companies rights to exploit the forest. The deal also prohibited the renewal of existing concessions. The government has written

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