The Congo Basin rainforest is the world’s largest carbon sink, absorbing more carbon dioxide than the Amazon. Often described as Africa’s “green lung”, it helps regulate the global climate, with peatlands that lock away huge amounts of carbon. But the region is under pressure from deforestation, industrial logging and plans for oil and gas drilling – even as the effects of climate change are already visible on the ground.
British photographer Hugh Kinsella Cunningham has lived in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since 2019 and has spent years documenting the region, first covering conflict before turning his lens to landscapes and communities across the Congo Basin.
A series of his photographs, now on display in Paris, brings together images of the world’s second-largest rainforest and the people who depend on it – from melting glaciers on the Ugandan border to families drifting on timber rafts down the Congo River.
Cunningham tells RFI why the central African basin matters for the future of the planet, and why the Congo River remains a lifeline for millions.
RFI: Your exhibition “In the Heart of the Congo Basin” retraces several years of your work as a photographer. How did the idea for the project come about?
Hugh Kinsella Cunningham: Looking through my archives, I realised I had actually visited far more parts of the DRC than I thought. It is such a vast area that I believed I had only seen a small part of it. But when I reviewed my magazine assignments over the years, along with projects and national parks I had visited, I saw I had enough material to show people the richness and beauty of different regions and ecosystems.
The Congo Basin will soon become one of the most important places for the planet’s health. It is the green lung of Africa. It still absorbs more carbon than it emits.
RFI: Much of your work until now has focused on conflict in the DRC. Is this exhibition also a way of showing the country from another angle, focusing on its beauty rather than war?
HKC: There are extremely surprising things to discover in the DRC. On the border with Uganda, you have glaciers that are melting, and on the other side of the country you can find the last zebras in the DRC in a national park. But it is also important to say that many people still live in conflict zones and that conflict is never far away. There are many places of extraordinary natural beauty right next to areas of violence.
The challenges of protecting wildlife from war in eastern DRC
RFI: The Congo River appears throughout your body of work. Can you explain why the waterway is so important and why the exhibition seems to follow its course?
HKC: The Congo River and its tributaries cross nine countries, most of which are economically underdeveloped, with poor infrastructure and incredibly difficult terrain. There are many swamps and forests, and the landscape is often impenetrable.
The river connects communities in these isolated areas to different parts of the country. It allows people to earn money in ways that would otherwise be impossible. For example, a family from a village upstream in Équateur province that I photographed on the river can, after one or two weeks of travel, reach the city centre of Kinshasa.
But the journey is very dangerous. The currents are extremely strong. There are often tragic accidents and people can get lost at night because the river is so dangerous. Still, it is the main form of transport. It connects people.
RFI: So the river plays an important economic role for remote communities?
HKC: Yes, it is one of the only viable ways for many communities to earn a proper living using the natural resources in their region. People cut trees, tie the logs together and drift downstream to sell them, hoping to make a profit of $300. For them, that represents a fortune.
RFI: Does this create problems of deforestation?
HKC: I followed many people cutting trees to make charcoal. That could give the impression that local populations are the main cause of large-scale deforestation in DRC, which lost 1 million hectares of forest per year in 2023 and 2024, assuming that trend continues.
In reality, large industrial logging concessions are responsible for much of the deforestation in the Congo Basin, and they are much harder for a photographer to access. I had to use drone images taken discreetly to understand the scale of deforestation in the region.
I also photographed a barge on the river with about three sections carrying hundreds of logs, some of them enormous.
RFI: The Congo Basin is now the most important carbon sink in the world, absorbing more carbon dioxide than the Amazon. Can you explain why this ecosystem matters for the climate?
HKC: In one photograph in the exhibition, you can see the village of Lokolama and the peatlands surrounding it. These peatlands store carbon. Scientists discovered relatively recently that they hold 30 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide, which is equivalent to three years of global emissions in that single region.
It is clearly a very important site to protect. What is interesting is that local communities now understand the value of what they have. The village chief is in contact with environmental NGOs that have visited, and he is trying to see how this can also benefit his community.
They have decided to set aside certain areas of land that they will not cut for charcoal production because they understand the importance of doing so, especially since climate change is particularly visible between the Congo and the Nile. In some places, the tipping point has already been reached.
The melting glaciers in the mountains that divide the Congo and Nile Basins are very symbolic to photograph because even with conservation efforts, it is too late. The Rwenzori glacier will disappear within the next decade.
RFI: Do you think the environmental risks facing the Amazon rainforest are the same for the Congo Basin?
HKC: What protects many parts of DRC is their remoteness and the difficulty of access. The region can still be protected. There was an outcry recently when the Congolese government planned to auction off areas, including protected zones, for oil and gas drilling rights.
That auction was cancelled in 2024, which showed how high the stakes are, and the fact it never happened is a very positive sign. Many of these places are also too complex logistically for large-scale exploitation. People still rely on the river to extract timber and other resources. It would be very complicated for anyone to start other kinds of operations.
RFI: Before this exhibition, most of your work focused on conflict in the country. Is this project also something like a declaration of love for the Congo Basin?
HKC: Maybe, yes. I have lived in the Democratic Republic of Congo since 2019, and even when I was covering conflicts, I found myself in beautiful places surrounded by wonderful people. It feels like many different worlds brought together in one country.
The Congo River is completely different from the Kivu region, which is itself completely different from the mountains or the savannah. There is so much to explore. It would be fantastic if, in the future, the DRC, which I think is the most interesting country in Africa, became a bit more open to visitors so everyone could appreciate its beauty and diversity.
► “In the Heart of the Congo Basin” runs until 28 February at the Angalia gallery, 10 rue des Coutures Saint-Gervais, Paris. Entry is free.
