Congo Basin Forests Briefing

Zoom Press Briefing in Advance of One Forest Summit in Libreville, Gabon

Date: Thursday, 23 February 2023 7:00 a.m. New York//12:00 p.m. London//1:00 p.m. Paris//1:00 p.m. Libreville 

Recording: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LiIxJFRu5-VsIq9SG24BcCuQFoLVNkW-/view?usp=sharing
Transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iCwOToLp7p--MkchDhVTjYHHr4jEARu7qUhCKPmCqlk/edit

Information on the Science Panel for the Amazon

Libreville Congo Basin Science Meeting

Additional Resources

Climate Focus Regional Assessment 2022: Tracking progress towards forest goals in the Congo Basin

Statement: Scientists Call for Action—Five Reasons We Depend on Peatlands

Study: Long-term wildlife mortality surveillance in northern Congo: a model for the detection of Ebola virus disease epizootics

More Information:

• The Congo Basin supports the livelihoods of 80 million people. 

 • The forests generate rainfall that reaches the Sahel and, therefore, supports an additional set of rural Africans — as many as 300 million. 

• These ecosystems shelter forest elephants, gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos. 

• Between 2008 and 2017, the Congo Basin received just 11.5% of international financial flows for forest protection and sustainable management in tropical areas, compared with 55% for Southeast Asia and 34% for the Amazon region, according to Nature. 

Resources on animal seed dispersal in Central African forests

Study: Evolution and Conservation of Central African Biodiversity

PNAS Study: Megaherbivores modify forest structure and increase carbon stocks through multiple pathways

Study: Long-term collapse in fruit availability threatens Central African forest megafauna

Study: Seed Dispersal by Fruit-Eating Birds and Mammals

Study: Doom of the elephant-dependent trees in a Congo tropical forest

Annual Review Ecology of Seed Dispersal