The African continent is responsible for only 2–3% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions from energy and industrial sources. But it’s alarmingly suffering from the effects of the climate crisis, as reports from the UN and others show. On the positive side, Africa has a huge potential for climate mitigation, especially thanks to its tropical rainforests.
The Congo Basin’s rainforests in central Africa are sometimes called Earth’s second lungs (after the Amazon) because of its ability to store carbon. In addition to the forest trees, the basin has the world’s largest tropical peatlands, discovered in 2017. Scientists estimate that these peatlands store carbon worth about 20 years of the fossil fuel emissions of the US. The Congo Basin is also rich in biodiversity and in minerals.
