2023-11-24 16:06:58
The Alima River, near Oyo (Congo-Brazzaville). Nature has pushed its insolence to the point of placing black gold in one of the lungs of the planet, and the oil companies are on the lookout, Thierry Foulon
The forests of this region of central Africa contain a remarkable ecosystem, still little known to the public and scientists. But their peatlands, natural carbon sinks, face multiple pressures and could also become, conversely, climate bombs.
Congo Basin
Bogs: the word has something dark and anxiety-inducing about it. We imagine unhealthy swamps where mosquitoes dance, dying trunks fighting against decomposition, organic magma, a tangle of life and death. The reality is not far away since these areas are made up of peat, that is to say plants and moss which slowly decompose in stagnant water. In its muddy throat, nature swallows, macerates, digests. The kind of place that doesn’t make you want to linger.
However, this black mud is a treasure. Because peatlands are extremely efficient carbon sinks, absorbing more carbon than they release. The Congo Basin, which spreads over six countries in Central Africa, is home to the largest tropical peat bog in the world: 167,600 km2, five times the size of Belgium. It also contains 30 billion tons of carbon, the equivalent of fifteen years of emissions by the United States. Released into the atmosphere, this astronomical stock…
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#peatlands #Congo #Basin #opportunity #climate