We know so little about the majestic forests of central Africa. A lack of investment is the barrier to safeguarding these precious ecosystems. Surmount this, and the future of Earth’s second ‘great green lung’ will be brighter. Source.
Eve Bazaiba Masudi
Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Jules Doret Ndongo
Minister of Forestry and Wildlife, Republic of Cameroon.
Rosalie Matondo
Minister of Forest Economy, Republic of the Congo.
Arlette Soudan-Nonault
Minister of Environment, Sustainable Development & the Congo Basin, Republic of the Congo.
Lee J. T. White
Ex-Minister of Water, Forests, Oceans, Environment, Climate Change and Land-use Planning, Gabonese Republic.
Transforming our understanding of the world’s second largest tropical forest and river network requires investment. This is an investment in the long-term stewardship and sustainable development of Congo Basin.
The CBSI Science and Capacity Plan details the support that the scientific community of the region has identified to transform science and capacity in the Congo Basin. This ranges from our core funding, to allow scientists to travel to meetings, to small grants to help students collect data as part of their studies, to major integrated programs such as funding the six Observatories.
CBSI brings together regional scientists, science stakeholders and other partners to jointly promote and coordinate opportunities for investments in science on the Congo Basin. CBSI is a coordination body, that connects, coordinates and facilitates and is not a major fund-holder. Investments go directly to where they can have most impact, minimal bureaucratic cost, and fulfil the requirements of all the parties needed to invest in training, new data collection and analyses.
The CBSI co-chairs Professors Raphael Tshimanga and Simon Lewis, alongside a number of members of the Scientific Steering Committee participated in the Three Basins Summit in Brazzaville, 26-28 October 2023, where we launched the Congo Basin Science Initiative.
The CBSI co-chairs Professors Raphael Tshimanga and Simon Lewis will also be at COP28 in Dubai, where CBSI will participate in a series of side events.
If you would like to discuss investing in a positive future for the Congo Basin, please get in touch for a meeting. Contact the CBSI Secretariat: info@congobasinscience.net.
11%
The proportion of international forestry funding the Congo Basin received 2008–2017, compared with southeast Asia (55%) and the Amazon (34%). Source.
$200m
The funding needed, over the next decade, to better understand the Congo Basin, the world’s second-largest extent of tropical forest.
$2,400,000m
The total research and development funding globally in 2020. $200 million is less than one-thousandth of that figure. Source.
