The role of the Democratic Republic of Congo in the fight against climate change
On the second day of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Summit, the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Félix Tshisekedi, took the floor to highlight the key role his country plays in the fight against climate change. As the second largest forest massif in the world, the DRC is home to rich and endemic forests that have a fundamental impact on the regulation of the global climate system, just like the Amazon rainforest.
President Tshisekedi pointed out that the forests of the DRC cover around 67% of the national territory, which is equivalent to 155 million hectares. This represents nearly 10% of the world’s tropical forests, 38% of African forests and around 60% of those in the Congo Basin. These forests also sequester nearly 24.5 gigatonnes of greenhouse gases per day, three quarters of which are concentrated on 43% of the country’s surface area.
But that’s not all. The DRC also has vast expanses of peatlands, which cover approximately 101,500 km² of its territory. These peatlands have the capacity to absorb nearly 1.5 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, or 4% of global emissions. They constitute a natural store of more than 30 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of more than two years of global greenhouse gas emissions.
President Tshisekedi stressed that this Amazon Cooperation Treaty Summit was an opportunity to highlight the importance of the DRC in the fight against climate change. He also recalled the adoption of the Joint Declaration on Rainforest Cooperation and Climate Action, also known as “BIC”, at a meeting in Bali in 2022. This declaration sealed an alliance trilateral between Brazil, Indonesia and the DRC to work together on issues related to forests and biodiversity.
This trilateral alliance will serve as a framework for consultation, exchange of experiences and common actions, including on the carbon credit markets. The DRC thus undertakes to play an important role in the preservation of its natural resources and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
In conclusion, the Democratic Republic of Congo occupies a primordial place in the fight against climate change because of its vast forests and its potential to absorb carbon dioxide