The UK government has announced £9.1 million ($11.7 million) in funding to scientists to provide the data and knowledge needed for policies to protect the world’s second largest area of tropical rainforest.
The Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, announced the funding in a speech at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan.
The grant will be used to investigate the value and vulnerability of the Congo Basin rainforest and translate this new knowledge into policy action to protect forests, improve livelihoods, and support sustainable development.
The Congo Basin Science Initiative (CBSI) will receive the five-year grant, investing in a large network of scientists from across the region, supported by UK scientists, to train a new generation of scientists and collect new data to transform our understanding of the Congo Basin.
Professor Raphael Tshimanga, co-chair of CBSI, from the University of Kinshasa DRC, said: “This is an important moment, as this funding will support twelve of the leading research teams across the Congo Basin to gain an integrated understanding of how this region is changing.”
He continued, “We will be able to monitor our forests as a whole system and explain this new understanding to policy makers and the world to keep the Congo Basin’s forests standing and contribute to our countries’ development.”
The new programme includes leading scientists from Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Republic of the Congo, and the UK, working together to monitor the climate, rivers, vegetation, biodiversity, land uses and how local and indigenous people utilize the natural environment. This is coupled with 20 PhD studentships and 12 MSc scholarships to train a new generation of scientists from the region. The funding is administered by the University of Leeds, UK.
Professor Simon Lewis, co-chair of CBSI, from the University of Leeds and University College London, said “The past lack of investment in understanding the Congo Basin is a scandal. For the Amazon we know there is a threshold of deforestation and climate change, a tipping point, beyond which parts of the Amazon Forest will die-off, which would accelerate climate change. For the Congo we don’t even know if a tipping point exists, or if it does, how close we are to breaching it. We will find out this critical information with this new funding.”
Scientists formed CBSI in response to a call by Environment Ministers from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Cameroon and the Republic of the Congo for a $150 million investment in science to understand and protect central Africa’s forests.
In February 2023, fifty scientists gathered in Libreville, Gabon, at the Congo Basin Science Meeting agreeing to form CBSI. The Congo Basin Science Initiative was launched in October 2023 in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo, at the Summit of the Three Basins. The grant from the UK government is the first major investment in CBSI.
Professor Raphael Tshimanga said, “I hope we can build on this important investment, as the data and capacity needs of the Congo Basin region are large. By having a programme led by scientists from the Congo Basin, this shows how science should be done. I’m excited to have the resources to work directly with scientists in other Congo Basin countries.”
The grant is called the Congo Rainforest Alliance for Forest Training for Sustainable Development (CRAFT-Sustainable Development). This is the first funded project under the new Congo Basin Forest Action Programme from the UK government’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
Notes to Editors
Professors Raphael Tshimanga and Simon Lewis are available for interview.
The partners under this grant are:
Climate and Meteorology
University of Yaoundé I, Cameroon; ISTA Kinshasa, Higher Institute of Applied Techniques (Institut Supérieur des Techniques Appliquées), DRC; University of Oxford, UK.
Hydrology and Freshwater
University of Kinshasa, DRC, Institute of Geological and Mining Research, Cameroon; University of Leeds, UK.
Vegetation, Soil and Biogeochemistry
University of Dschang, Cameroon; National Centre for Scientific and Technological Research (CENAREST), Gabon; University of Leeds, UK.
Biodiversity
University of Lubumbashi, DRC; Catholic University of Kinshasa, DRC; Stirling University, UK.
Land Cover and Land Use Change
Omar Bongo University, Gabon; Marien N’Gouabi University, Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo; University of Leeds, UK.
Socio-ecology
National Institute for Social Sciences and Humanities Research, INRSSH, Brazzzaville Republic of the Congo; Omar Bongo University, Libreville, Gabon; University College London, UK.
Header image credit: UN Climate Change – Kamran Guliyev
