location: Congo Basin

location: Congo Basin

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Descendants of people pushed out for DRC national park lead forest conservation efforts
- Gangala Yafali Mangusa Jr. is a descendant of one of the families that had to leave the forests of what is today in and around Maiko National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
- Now, he heads the management committee of the Bamasobha Local Community Forest Concession (CFCL) and works with communities to protect biodiversity through local conservation efforts.
- According to experts, the sustainability of conservation efforts depends largely on the ability to balance biodiversity protection with improving the living conditions of Indigenous peoples and local communities.
- According to satellite imagery from Global Forest Watch, forest loss in the Bamasobha CFCL was reduced from 940 hectares in 2024 to 120 hectares in 2025.

World Peatland Day honors a crucial ecosystem in the fight against climate change
Peatlands are boggy wet ecosystems found from boreal forests in the Russian Arctic to the tropics of central Africa. Typically, when vegetation decomposes it releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. However, when that same organic matter falls in a bog and is covered with water, carbon gets trapped and becomes sequestered there, sometimes for millennia. […]
Carbon cowboys and unpaid pledges: Ex-Gabon environment minister Lee White on conservation in Africa
- In an interview with Mongabay, the former Gabon environment minister Lee White makes the case that the Congo Basin should be treated as “critical national infrastructure” to be protected for Africa’s future water and climate security.
- He also defends nuclear energy as a “necessary evil” to generate the energy that Africa needs while avoiding catastrophic climate and water crises across the continent.
- White says weak governance, not mining itself, is the main driver of environmental destruction linked to mineral extraction.
- He criticizes the current carbon finance system, saying developed countries failed to honor their pledges to pay developing ones like Gabon for protecting their forests.

Gunmen kill two rangers in latest deadly attack in DRC’s Virunga National Park
Gunmen have killed two rangers in Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the latest deadly attack in a region roiled by militia violence. Park sources said a heavily armed group opened fire on a control post at Kamuhororo, on the southern shore of Lake Edward inside Virunga, early on May 21. Kasereka […]
A “good year” for forests changes less than it seems
- Tropical primary forest loss saw a significant drop in 2025, but the decline likely represents a temporary reprieve driven by favorable weather rather than a fundamental shift in the root causes of deforestation.
- The reduction was largely due to a decrease in fire-related losses following the extreme droughts of 2024, highlighting how forest health is increasingly dictated by climate variability and rainfall extremes.
- While policy-driven successes in Brazil and Indonesia offer a blueprint for enforcement, these gains remain fragile and vulnerable to shifting political dynamics and weakening governance.
- The resilience of recent progress faces an imminent test in 2026, as forecasts for a returning El Niño threaten to bring back the dry conditions that historically trigger catastrophic forest loss.

What it takes to make conservation work in Central Africa: Luis Arranz’s 46-year journey
- Luis Arranz has spent more than four decades managing protected areas in Central Africa, taking a field-based approach shaped by long tenures in places like Zakouma, Garamba, Dzanga-Sangha, and Salonga.
- He argues that conservation is less about new plans than about execution—maintaining teams, logistics, and consistent operations in remote and difficult terrain.
- Success depends on aligning conservation with local livelihoods, through mechanisms such as tourism and other income-generating activities tied to protected areas.
- Progress is fragile: parks rely heavily on external funding, operate in unstable security contexts, and can quickly deteriorate without sustained presence on the ground.

Studying the world’s largest gathering of forest elephants with sound and field observation
- At Dzanga Bai in the Central African Republic—one of the few places where forest elephants gather in large numbers—researchers can observe behaviors that are otherwise difficult to document in dense rainforest.
- Ivonne Kienast leads long-term research combining direct observation with acoustic monitoring, building a detailed record of elephant behavior, social structure, and change over time.
- Her work highlights how sustained presence, local collaboration, and incremental data collection shape understanding of both elephants and the broader forest system they inhabit.
- Kienast spoke with Rhett Ayers Butler, Mongabay founder and CEO, and David Akana, director of Mongabay Africa, over two weeks of conversations in the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo during March 2026. Her responses have been edited and consolidated.

Can nature outcompete war in Eastern Congo?
- In eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, pressure on Virunga National Park reflects deeper economic and governance dynamics, where conservation competes with immediate livelihood needs tied to charcoal production and agriculture.
- Emmanuel de Merode frames environmental decline as a consequence of how people earn a living, arguing that protecting biodiversity requires addressing energy access, jobs, and local economic systems.
- Virunga has developed an integrated model built around renewable energy, small business development, financial access, and localized security, aimed at shifting incentives away from conflict-linked and extractive activities.
- The proposed Green Corridor extends this approach across a national scale, testing whether a viable economic system can be built that depends on maintaining forests rather than clearing them, despite ongoing conflict and political constraints.

Why conservation needs stories of progress
- Conservation progress often unfolds through sustained, incremental efforts by rangers, communities, and researchers, demonstrating that meaningful gains are still possible even in difficult contexts.
- Solutions journalism seeks to complement crisis reporting by examining what is working, under what conditions, and with what limitations, offering a more complete and actionable picture of environmental challenges.
- Evidence suggests that stories of credible progress can counter news avoidance, restore a sense of agency, and help practitioners and policymakers adapt successful approaches across regions.
- The launch of Mongabay’s Solutions Desk reflects this shift, writes Rhett Butler, the founder and CEO, in this commentary, aiming to document and disseminate effective conservation strategies alongside investigative reporting.

A human rights center opens a path to justice for Indigenous Peoples in the Central African Republic
- In Bayanga, a forest town on the edge of the Dzanga-Sangha Protected Areas complex, a small human rights center is restoring hope to the Ba’aka, one of the best-known Indigenous peoples of the Congo Basin.
- Established in 2015, the center helps resolve conflicts within local communities, promotes access to justice, provides human rights training and awareness, and helps the Ba’aka community participate in political and societal life. It also assists residents in obtaining administrative documents such as birth certificates and identity cards.
- The center has already handled 880 cases, ranging from financial disputes over loans or wages to physical violence and sexual abuse.
- Thanks to the trust it has earned from the communities, it plays a role in preserving social peace in this forested region.

A Congo Basin-led bioeconomy could boost Central Africa’s green transition (analysis)
- As the global economy shifts toward greener, more sustainable models, the Congo Basin has a unique opportunity to position itself within this landscape by building a resilient bioeconomy that prioritizes local value creation while preserving critical ecosystems.
- Despite its rich natural endowments, this region often faces a paradox: while conservation protects, extraction exploits, and agreements frequently stall.
- “Promoting innovative approaches to biodiversity value creation directly supports efforts to enhance innovation and competitiveness, while emphasizing the need for durable, inclusive systems that capture long-term value for local communities,” a new analysis argues.
- This article is an analysis. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

A unique clearing in Central Africa draws elephants from the dense forests
- Dzanga Bai is an exceptional forest clearing where hundreds of elusive forest elephants gather, offering scientists and visitors opportunities to observe their behavior, social interactions and family dynamics in the open.
- Mineral-rich soil and shallow pools draw elephants and other wildlife like bongos and forest buffalo, making the clearing a unique ecological hotspot and a valuable site for long-term research on a little-understood species.
- Dzanga Bai is a growing tourism spot for the Central African Republic, but growth remains limited by difficult access, infrastructure constraints and perceptions of insecurity.

‘Ancient’ carbon venting from lakes in the Congo Basin peatlands: Study
- A new study finds that lakes are likely releasing carbon that’s been held in the peatlands of the Congo Basin for thousands of years.
- Scientists know these lakes release carbon dioxide, which until now was thought to result from recently decayed plant matter.
- A team of researchers radiocarbon-dated carbon from water samples to show that some of the CO₂ probably has much older origins, reporting their findings in a new study.
- The authors says more work is needed to understand the implications of this ancient carbon release for carbon dynamics and climate change.

Conservation depends on rangers. Their wellbeing is often an afterthought
- An attack on Upemba National Park that left seven dead reflects a broader pattern: rangers are increasingly exposed to violence across protected areas, often facing armed groups with limited support.
- The risks do not end with the attack itself. Many rangers work under sustained pressure, with repeated exposure to trauma, long absences from family, and little access to mental health care.
- Research shows these conditions can affect decision-making, performance, and retention, with implications not only for ranger wellbeing but for conservation outcomes.
- Some efforts are emerging—from counseling programs to support for rangers’ families—but they remain limited, raising a central question: whether the systems around rangers will change enough to sustain the people doing the work.

How a community defended its ancestral forest from logging
- In northeastern Gabon, the community of Massaha used participatory mapping to document ancestral villages, sacred sites and traditional land use inside a rainforest slated for industrial logging.
- Their biocultural map revealed a long history of occupation that colonial records and modern conservation maps had largely overlooked.
- The evidence helped the community argue for protection of their forest, prompting government intervention that halted logging and opened discussions about formal conservation.
- The case highlights how local knowledge and community-led mapping can complement global conservation data and reshape how forests are understood and protected.

Growing number of Indigenous Twa forced out of DRC’s forests and into towns
- In the last decade, there has been a steady increase in the number of Indigenous Twa families leaving forests their ancestors relied on in the Congo Basin for urban centers in northern North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo.
- According to reports seen by Mongabay, the number of Indigenous peoples climbed by 5,000 in some small towns.
- For some Twa people, moving to the city is not only a consequence of expulsion from protected areas, but also a choice motivated by insecurity, trying to escape land conflicts with Bantu communities and finding alternative livelihoods as extractive activities take up forests.
- These displacements have profound social, cultural, and environmental consequences, say environmental activists, as Twa people severe ties with the forest, and traditional ecological knowledge built over millennia declines.

Partnering up to run a DRC reserve: Interview with Forgotten Parks’ Christine Lain
- In 2017, Upemba National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo was largely a “paper park,” badly underfunded and encroached on by poachers, farmers, artisanal miners and armed groups, with its wildlife in steep decline.
- That year, Forgotten Parks signed a 15-year deal with the DRC government to manage the park.
- The agreement was one of a growing number of public-private partnerships for conservation in Africa.
- Mongabay spoke to Forgotten Parks’ DRC director, Christine Lain, about how Forgotten Parks approaches its work at Upemba.

What’s next for the major pledge to halt & reverse Congo Basin deforestation?
- In January, high-level policymakers came together to discuss the implementation of the recent Belém Call to Action for the Congo Basin Forests, a $2.5 billion pledge to conserve the world’s second-largest rainforest.
- Central topics included the need for innovative funding approaches, such as moving beyond traditional donors in the Global North, direct funding for communities, the need to fund projects that link forest conservation with socioeconomic development and how to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030.
- For this commitment to work, where other environmental pledges have failed, panelists said there must be clear, traceable financing channels, strong institutional coordination, strong legal frameworks and genuine engagement of civil society and local actors.
- The Congo Basin, covering several Central African countries in a wide green canopy, is facing several threats, chronic underfunding — and attention — for its conservation.

The year in rainforests 2025: Deforestation fell; the risks did not
- This analysis explores key storylines, examining the political, environmental, and economic dynamics shaping tropical rainforests in 2025, with attention to how policy, markets, and climate stress increasingly interact rather than operate in isolation.
- Across major forest regions, deforestation slowed in some places but degradation, fire, conflict, and legacy damage continued to erode forest health, often in ways that standard metrics fail to capture.
- Global responses remained uneven: conservation finance shifted toward fiscal and market-based tools, climate diplomacy deferred hard decisions, and enforcement outcomes depended heavily on institutional capacity and credibility rather than formal commitments alone.
- Taken together, the year showed that forest outcomes now hinge less on single interventions than on whether governments and institutions can sustain continuity—of funding, governance, science, and oversight—under mounting environmental and political strain.

Congo’s communities are creating a 1-million-hectare biodiversity corridor
- The NGO Strong Roots Congo is securing lands for communities and wildlife to create a 1-million-hectare (2.5-million-acre) corridor that spans the space between Kahuzi-Biega National Park and Itombwe Nature Reserve in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
- The effort requires multiple communities to register their customary lands as community forestry concessions under an environmental management plan, which, piece by piece, form the sweeping corridor.
- To date, Strong Roots has secured 23 community forest concessions in the area, covering nearly 600,000 hectares (1.5 million acres) of land.
- The corridor aims to rectify a historical wrong in the creation of Kahuzi-Biega National Park, which displaced many families, by engaging communities in conservation. Advocates say the project has had a positive impact so far despite challenges, but persistent armed conflict in the eastern DRC is slowing progress.

West and Central Africa tackle coastal erosion
- Coastal erosion along the coastline of West and Central Africa has been attributed to both natural causes and to human causes, including infrastructure development.
- With support from international finance agencies, governments cross the region have favored intensive engineering solutions to attempt to protect eroding shorelines.
- Environmentalists say nature-based interventions such as restoring mangrove forests that can stabilize soil and protect marine biodiversity.

Top-down projects, exotic trees, weak tenure: Congo Basin restoration misses the mark
- Despite a panoply of projects — from tree-planting drives to agroforestry schemes — a new study finds that much of what’s happening in the name of “forest restoration” in the Congo Basin may not be restoring forests at all, but largely focused on growing nonnative, commodity species.
- The research found nearly two-thirds of projects favored planting exotic species over native ones, primarily because they grow more quickly, require less care, and their seeds are easier to source.
- It also noted a lack of ecological monitoring, with few initiatives tracking tree survival rates, soil recovery or carbon storage, and most lasting less than five years — far too short to measure real ecological impact.
- Beyond agroforestry and fuelwood plantations, the study calls for approaches that promote natural regeneration, restore native biodiversity and reconnect fragmented habitats.

An Empire of Nature: African Parks and Rwanda’s Nyungwe Forest
- In 2020, South Africa-based NGO African Parks signed a 20-year deal to manage Rwanda’s Nyungwe National Park, one of the largest montane rainforests in Africa.
- Nyungwe is one of 24 protected areas managed by African Parks in 13 countries.
- Founded by a Dutch industrialist, African Parks is a pioneer of the “public-private” conservation model in Africa.
- Mongabay visited Nyungwe to look at African Parks and its approach to conservation.

Norway’s multibillion-dollar bet on forests: An interview with Minister Eriksen
- Two major forest finance initiatives announced at COP30 — the Brazil-led Tropical Forest Forever Fund (TFFF), backed by $6.7 billion, and the newly launched Canopy Trust — signal renewed global attention on the Congo Basin, the world’s second-largest rainforest.
- Canopy Trust, formally launched Nov. 17, relies on blended public–private finance and has already raised $93 million, with a goal of mobilizing $1 billion by 2030 to support sustainable enterprises and early-stage, high-impact forest projects in the Congo Basin.
- Norway, the largest contributor to both the TFFF and Canopy Trust, sees the new fund as complementary to existing mechanisms like CAFI — rewarding low deforestation and strengthening sustainable production. One of its key functions is to de-risk investments in local small and medium-sized enterprises, which might otherwise find it hard to attract private investors.
- In an interview with Mongabay, Norway’s Minister of Climate and Environment Andreas Bjelland Eriksen said the ultimate test will be whether these mechanisms finally deliver what communities demand: direct access to finance, local ownership and tangible economic benefits on the ground.

Congo Basin nations roll out community payments for forest care
Congo Basin countries have announced the launch of a payments for environmental services, or PES, initiative at the COP30 climate summit in Belém, Brazil, intended to encourage practices favorable to forest protection and restoration. The financial mechanism, announced Nov. 18 and supported by the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI), transfers direct payments via a mobile […]
To fix the climate, simply empower Indigenous people (commentary)
- While nations search for complex climate solutions at this year’s COP30 climate meeting in Belém, a simple yet powerful answer is just waiting in the wings: empowering the world’s most powerful protectors of forests and nature – Indigenous people – and we must let them point the way, a new op-ed argues.
- Ending fossil fuel use and transforming global food systems are essential but expensive and take time, but nations like Indonesia can score an immediate climate win by enacting its long debated Indigenous Peoples Bill, for example.
- “Humanity seeks an answer, but the answer has always been here,” the Sira Declaration states. “The answer is us.”
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Congo Basin communities bear the costs of industrial expansion
Governments and investors are seeking minerals, timber and oil in the Congo Basin to fuel the global economy and the green transition. However, communities that have lived in the world’s second-largest rainforest for generations are paying the highest price for extraction, according to a new report published ahead of the upcoming United Nations Climate Change […]
What might lie ahead for tropical forests (analysis)
- Heading into COP30, where tropical forests are set to be a central theme, Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler offers a thought experiment—tracing today’s trajectories a little further forward to imagine where they might lead. What follows are scenarios, some improbable, others already taking shape.
- The essay envisions a world where deforestation gives way to disorder: weakened governance, runaway fires, and ecological feedback loops eroding forests from within even without the swing of an axe. It explores how technology and biology—AI-driven agriculture, gene-edited trees, and microbial interventions—could either accelerate destruction or redefine restoration, depending on who controls them.
- Across these imagined futures, one pattern recurs: forests thinning, recovering, and thinning again, as human ambition, migration, and climate instability test whether nature will be given the time and space to heal.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

As forest elephants plummet, ebony trees decline in Central Africa’s rainforests
- In the past three decades, poaching has decimated Africa’s now-critically endangered forest elephants, and as a result, their vital role as seed dispersers of many forest plants has been disrupted.
- A new study from Cameroon provides the first direct evidence that without forest elephants, there are fewer ebony saplings; on average, as few as 68%, in Central African rainforests.
- Researchers found that seeds pooped out in elephant dung have a better chance of surviving and sprouting as they are protected from hungry rodents and other herbivores that chew and destroy the seeds.
- The findings show that losing key ecosystem engineers and seed dispersers has far-reaching ecological and economic impacts, potentially altering entire ecosystems.

In eastern Congo’s war-torn forests, Augustin Basabose gave hope to gorillas and people
- Dr. Augustin Kanyunyi Basabose, who died on August 18th, 2025, was a pioneering Congolese primatologist whose optimism and energy inspired colleagues and communities alike.
- He founded Primate Expertise (PEx), which combined science with community-led conservation, including the innovative “Ape Trees” project that restored forests while supporting livelihoods.
- Central to his work was the protection of Grauer’s gorillas, alongside training hundreds of students and urging international partners to prioritize local leadership.
- His influence is evident in eastern Congo’s forests, where gorilla populations are recovering and communities have become vital allies in conservation.

Uncovering forest loss in gorilla park six months after M23 offensive in the DRC
- Six months since M23 armed rebels took control of provincial capitals in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, local activists and satellite imagery collected by Mongabay have identified sites of expanding forest loss in Kahuzi-Biega National Park.
- Researchers say this is due to collapsing conservation efforts, lack of park monitoring, and massive logging and charcoal production inside the national park. While M23 and other militias don’t produce the charcoal directly, they profit by taxing its transport and trade.
- Activists who have denounced the illegal exploitation have been harassed, attacked, or even killed. Some, like Josue Aruna, have been forced into hiding or exile after facing death threats.
- On July 19, the DRC government and M23 signed a ceasefire agreement, with conservationists saying they hope this will create conditions for restoring security in the area and halt the destruction of the rainforest.

Two rangers killed in a plane crash in DRC’s Virunga National Park
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. The eastern reaches of the Democratic Republic of Congo are no strangers to tragedy. Yet the loss of two Virunga National Park rangers in a surveillance plane crash near Ishango on July 23 underscores once again the mortal […]
Signs of hope for rescued gorillas rewilded in DRC, but security concerns linger
- In October 2024, conservationists released four gorillas from the Gorilla Rehabilitation and Conservation Education Center (GRACE) in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo back into the wild.
- The release took place in Virunga National Park — raising some concerns about their safety, as the park has been largely controlled by the armed rebel group M23 since January 2025.
- To reduce poaching in the area, GRACE says it focuses on working closely with local communities and integrating them into the organization.
- As for the released gorillas, GRACE reports that they joined a wild gorilla family and were even observed mating with the dominant male, raising hopes of a successful rewilding.

Report exposes safety complaints preceding fatal Perenco explosion in Gabon
- On March 20, 2024, six people lost their lives on the Becuna offshore oil platform following an explosion.
- According to the Environmental Investigation Agency, employees had previously raised concerns about security issues on the platform that were allegedly ignored by Perenco’s Paris headquarters.
- Since the explosion, the only compensation that has been paid out is to a French employee’s family, who received $10 million.

To survive climate change, scientists say protected areas need ‘climate-smart’ planning
- Climate change is threatening the effectiveness of protected areas (PAs) in safeguarding wildlife, ecosystem services and livelihoods, with scientists now calling for the incorporation of “climate-smart” approaches into the planning of new and existing PAs.
- Key approaches to developing a network of climate-smart PAs include protecting climate refugia, building connectivity, identifying species’ future habitats and areas that promote natural adaptation. These approaches rely on science-based spatial models and prioritization assessments.
- For example, the Climate Adaptation and Protected Areas (CAPA) initiative supports conservationists, local communities and authorities in implementing adaptation measures in and around PAs across Africa, Fiji and Belize.
- Experts emphasize that climate-smart conservation plans must address immediate local needs, engage diverse stakeholders through transboundary collaboration, and rapidly expand across freshwater and marine ecosystems, especially in the Global South.

World Bank to finance controversial DRC hydropower project, concerns remain
The World Bank recently approved an initial $250 million in financing for the controversial Inga 3 mega dam project in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a move that worries civil society organizations. Inga 3 has long been planned as part of the Grand Inga hydropower project, a series of dams at Inga Falls on the […]
Tropical forest loss hit new heights in 2024; fire a major driver in Latin America
- A new dataset and analysis released by World Resources Institute finds global tropical forest loss jumped to a record high in 2024, with 6.7 million hectares (16.6 million acres) worldwide.
- In total, the area of forest lost in 2024 is nearly the size of Panama.
- For the first time, fire, not agriculture, was the primary driver of primary tropical forest loss, with Latin America badly hit.
- Non-fire related tropical forest loss also increased, by 14%.

Deforestation in REDD-protected Congo rainforests is ‘beyond words’
The Republic of Congo had been protecting about half of its dense rainforests via the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) framework. In exchange, the country is supposed to receive payments from the World Bank. But Mongabay Africa staff writer Elodie Toto’s recent investigation revealed the nation has also granted nearly 80 gold […]
Soldiers raid village as tensions flare over DRC’s Kamoa mine expansion
- In late April, security forces fired live ammunition to disperse protesters near a mine in the DRC province of Lualaba.
- The protesters were demanding compensation from the mine’s owner, Kamoa, as part of a stalled resettlement process.
- The company says the delay is because the number of people claiming to have been displaced by its operations has ballooned.

Republic of Congo’s gold mining boom undermines conservation efforts
The Republic of Congo has one of the lowest deforestation rates in the world, but “uncontrolled gold mining” in recent years could harm the country’s biodiversity, especially in the Sangha region, Mongabay’s Elodie Toto reported in a video published in February. Sangha, located in the country’s north, on the border with Cameroon and the Central […]
13 years after deadly attack, an okapi returns to Epulu in DRC reserve
- Okapi Wildlife Reserve in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in partnership with the Okapi Conservation Project, has announced the return of an okapi to the reserve’s Epulu area after more than a decade.
- In 2012, an armed group of poachers killed seven people and 14 okapis at Epulu, and while the security situation in the area has improved since then, threats persist.
- The protected area is threatened by armed gangs, poachers and illegal gold mining, all of which endanger the species’ natural habitat.
- Experts say this instability has contributed to the continued decline of the okapi population, with an estimated 5,000 of these “African unicorns” left in the wildlife reserve.

Protected parks in peril as Republic of Congo ramps up oil drilling
- The Republic of Congo plans to nearly double its oil production over the next three years, including drilling in protected areas like Conkouati-Douli National Park, sparking outrage from environmental activists and civil society groups.
- This expansion directly contradicts the country’s climate commitments made at the 2023 U.N. climate conference and its stated goals of preserving biodiversity.
- Major international oil companies — including TotalEnergies, Perenco, and Chinese firms — are supporting this fossil fuel push despite past pollution scandals and a lack of public environmental impact assessments.
- Critics also warn of systemic corruption and resource mismanagement, questioning whether the projected revenues will benefit the public as fuel shortages and extreme climate impacts continue to hit the country.

Poaching intensifies in M23-occupied areas of Virunga National Park
- On March 11th, 2025, Virunga National Park authorities discovered a young gorilla named Fazili caught in a poacher’s trap.
- The closure of Virunga National Park eco-guard patrol posts in areas under M23 occupation has prevented regular patrols and monitoring since April 2024, said researchers, and some locals are taking advantage of the security situation to benefit from the park’s resources, collaborate with armed groups for land, or take part in the wild meat trade.
- No species have completely disappeared from the park, and the population of gorillas continued to rise in 2024 but there has been a 50% decrease in wildlife since the M23 resurgence in 2021 and poaching is expanding, said park officials.
- About one hundred community trackers are working to protect wildlife during the security crisis.

The environmental toll of the M23 conflict in eastern DRC (Analysis)
- The escalating armed conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has had significant — and overlooked — environmental impacts. The rate of tree cover loss in Kahuzi-Biega and Virunga National Parks has sharply increased since the conflict reignited in late 2021.
- Armed groups, both state and non-state, have profited by taxing the illegal charcoal and timber trade coming from inside these protected areas.
- Yet the impacts are complex: the broader geopolitical context also provides incentives for the M23 group to support conservation efforts in order to project themselves as providers of good governance in the region.
- This article is an analysis. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Investigating the real price of Congo’s gold
BAMEGOARD, Republic of Congo — In the Republic of Congo’s Sangha region, the expansion of mining activities within conservation areas undermines the objectives of carbon sequestration and biodiversity preservation efforts. In 2020, the government initiated the Sangha Likouala REDD+ program aiming to reduce deforestation and enhance carbon sequestration. Through this programme, the Congolese government claims […]
Mineral exploitation overshadows green diplomacy in Congo’s Sangha region
- The Republic of Congo’s minister of mines has issued at least 79 semi-industrial gold mining and exploration permits in the Sangha region, despite the area being officially designated for a REDD+ project.
- Sangha’s REDD+ program aims to reduce deforestation and degradation and is fundamentally incompatible with gold mining, which has caused widespread destruction of forests and pollution of water bodies in Congo and elsewhere.
- The head of the country’s REDD+ program argues that the mining industry drives national development.
- Some of the mining permits have been issued to individuals with ties to the government as well as to controversial figures.

DRC orders environmental, operational audits of oil company Perenco
The Democratic Republic of Congo has commissioned year-long audits of French-British multinational Perenco to assess “the reality” of its oil production and environmental impacts. The DRC’s Ministry of Hydrocarbons has appointed U.K.-based Alex Stewart International (ASI) to examine the technical and operational aspects of Perenco’s oil production activities, including a review of the company’s declared […]
New study assesses threat to wildlife from cacao expansion in Congo Basin
- Wildlife in the heart of the Congo Basin, an area that stretches from western and southern Cameroon to northeastern and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, are most at risk from the expansion of cacao cultivation, a recent study found.
- Cameroon, the world’s fourth-largest cacao producer, wants to double its output by 2030 — an ambition at odds with the country’s stubbornly low yields, changing climatic conditions, and the demand for “deforestation-free” cocoa from consumer nations.
- “Cameroon has little area available for agricultural expansion outside forests,” Marieke Sassen, a co-author of the new study, told Mongabay.
- Three-quarters of Cameroon’s cocoa is destined for the European Union, which passed a regulation in 2023 to ban imports of cocoa produced on recently deforested or degraded forestland.

Cameroon aims to double cacao, coffee production, yet also save forests
- The Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI) and the Cameroon government have signed a $60 million agreement they say will fund the development of cacao and coffee production, as well as protect the country’s forests.
- The fund will support projects aimed at sustainably raising production from existing agricultural land, rather than expanding into forested areas.
- Cameroonian forestry expert Ghislain Fomou says it’s unclear if cacao and coffee production can be increased without causing more deforestation.

The year in tropical rainforests: 2024
- The year 2024 saw significant developments in tropical rainforest conservation, deforestation, and degradation. While progress in some regions provided glimmers of hope, systemic challenges and emerging threats highlighted the fragility of these ecosystems.
- Although a complete comparison of tropical forest loss in 2024 with previous years is not yet available, there are currently no indications that this year’s loss will be markedly higher. A sharp decline in deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon—partially offset by widespread forest fires—suggests the overall rate of loss may be lower.
- This analysis explores key storylines, examining the political, environmental, and economic dynamics shaping tropical rainforests in 2024.

Armed conflict, not Batwa people, at heart of Grauer’s gorillas’ past decline in DRC park
- The decline in critically endangered Grauer’s gorillas between 1994 and 2003 in the highland sector of Kahuzi-Biega National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo was due to the impacts of armed conflict, rather than the presence or absence of Indigenous communities, according to a new study.
- The finding, including recent analysis of forest loss in parts of the park where Indigenous Batwa people returned, challenges simple but competing narratives that the region’s Batwa people are either forest destroyers or forest guardians, say various primatologists.
- After the onset of the Rwandan genocide and Congo Wars, which drove an influx of refugees, poaching, hunting and mining in the region, estimates of Grauer’s gorillas dropped from about 258 to 130 individuals, only to rise again once the Second Congo War ended.
- Researchers and conservation authorities say conservation in Kahuzi-Biega National Park remains challenging, but that Indigenous people should be included in environmental stewardship.

Progress on rights complaint systems in Congo Basin but more needed, says group
- On November 27, the Rainforest Foundation UK (RFUK) released a report on data it collected on human rights complaints procedures at 24 protected areas in four Congo Basin countries.
- The data showed that only around a third had active grievance and redress mechanisms (GRMs), and that most suffered from shortcomings related to financing, participation, design and transparency.
- Of parks with procedures for community members to make complaints about human rights abuses, fewer than half kept a public register of those complaints or their outcomes.
- Salonga National Park in the DRC, site of some of the worst abuses in recent memory, was said to have the most advanced complaints procedure, but RFUK said there was still room to improve.

Cobalt Capital
Cobalt is a critical mineral for lithium-ion batteries that power a range of renewable energy storage systems, including electric vehicles and consumer electronics. In the heart of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s cobalt capital, southeastern Katanga Province, mining pollution is increasing and polluters often fail to respond properly, in accordance with Congolese law. According to […]
‘We are not asking for handouts,’ Rwandan President Kagame says at COP29
BAKU, Azerbaijan – The debate around international climate finance is often interpreted to mean developing countries demand wealthier nations cover the growing climate bill. However, at the ongoing U.N. Climate Change Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, African leaders argue they are not seeking free money. Instead, they want the world to recognize the true value of […]
Study finds bonobos more diverse, and more vulnerable, than previously thought
- Recently published research finds that bonobos show a much deeper degree of genetic diversity than previously thought, with the species split into three distinct subgroups that diverged tens of thousands of years ago.
- The study is based on a detailed analysis of the genomes of 30 wild-born captive bonobos, cross-referenced with more limited data from 136 wild bonobos.
- Separation into three genetically isolated groups means that each group is more vulnerable than a single unified population would be, and that loss of any of these groups would result in a significant loss of the species’ genetic diversity.

The world’s chocolate cravings speed up deforestation in the Congo Basin: Study
- A recent study found that cacao farming in the Congo Basin, the world’s largest carbon sink, is linked with up to seven times more deforestation than other agricultural activities.
- Outside experts say that major global, economic and social pressures are influencing cacao farmers’ actions and call on international chocolate companies to better support farmers on the ground.
- Across cacao-producing countries in Africa, experts say that diversifying crops, rotating crops and changes in the supply chain are key to more sustainable farming practices.
- Agricultural trade drives an estimated 90% of global deforestation and more than 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

‘Dream birds’ in the mist: First photo of ‘lost’ bird in DRC mountains
- The mountainous forests of the eastern DRC are home to a strikingly beautiful bird: the yellow-crested helmetshrike.
- The species was considered lost to science until late last year, when an expedition of U.S. and DRC scientists spotted flocks of the birds gliding through the forests of the Itombwe mountains and snapped the first photo.
- Their observations will help to fill in some key knowledge gaps on this little-known species, which faces threats from habitat destruction and climate change.

We know how many okapi live in zoos. In the wild? It’s complicated
- The okapi, an endangered species that looks like a cross between a large antelope and a zebra, but is most closely related to the giraffe, is found only in the forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo and is considered an important cultural icon.
- The elusive ungulate faces more threats today than a decade ago, which was the last time a conservation assessment for the population was carried out.
- Armed militia groups, illegal mining, and a new trade in okapi oil for medicinal use have kept the species under threat and prevented scientists from being able to properly assess its population status.
- With scientists lacking reliable population estimates, a specialist group is now working to produce an updated conservation assessment within the next year.

US govt watchdog: Human rights still at risk in overseas conservation aid
- In July, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a review of human rights standards in conservation-related aid grants.
- The GAO is an independent, nonpartisan agency attached to the U.S. Congress. The House Committee on Natural Resources asked it to review aid funding in the wake of a scandal over human rights abuses in the Congo Basin.
- The review looked at grants given out by the U.S. State Department, USAID, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to conservationists in Africa, and included site visits to projects in Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
- The final report highlighted weaknesses in monitoring and self-reporting requirements for grantees and said there was a risk of abuses going unnoticed by U.S. government agencies.

The Itombwe owl: Two birds and an identity crisis
- The last sighting by scientists of the Itombwe owl, a species endemic to the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, was in 1996.
- This was in Itombwe Nature Reserve, a protected area described by its director as “forgotten by a majority of organizations and people who support the conservation of biodiversity.”
- Being overlooked may have helped keep the reserve protected, with the forest remaining intact and satellite imagery showing no roads being carved inside it.
- Experts agree on the need for further expeditions to study the Itombwe owl, including settling the long-running debate over which genus of barn owl, Tyto or Phodilus, it belongs to.

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