CongoFor1.5: Transforming central Africa’s carbon monitoring networks to meet 1.5°C

Partners

CENAREST
IRD
Marien N’Gouabi University
Norwegian University of Life Sciences
University of Ghent
University of Kisangani
University of Leeds
University of Yaoundé I

Locations

Belgium, Cameroon, DRC, France, Gabon, Republic of Congo, UK

Funder

Central African Forest Initiative

Funding amount

4.4 million US dollars

Active period

2024 – 2027

Project Overview

The structurally intact forests of central Africa remove substantial quantities of carbon from the atmosphere, and they are a globally significant carbon sink, slowing the rate of climate change. The published data on this span from 1983 to 2015 and show, over this period, a stable sink (Hubau et al. 2020). However, models of the future of carbon uptake by these forests cover a range of outcomes, from an increasing sink, to a stable sink, to a declining sink. In response to this, the scientific aim of CongoFor1.5 is to understand the changing carbon balance and ecology of the Congo Basin and its contiguous forests over time, by re-censusing existing long-term forest inventory plots to give more than a decade of data, to 2026. We plan to re-census 225 long-term inventory plots across Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon and Republic of the Congo, alongside collating other data from the wider Congo Basin region.

The capacity building aim of CongoFor1.5 is to train field teams and managers in each of the four focal countries to measure these research plots to scientific standards, and for these groups to have all the skills required to continue the long-term monitoring of these valuable plots into the future, once the project reaches its completion. This will allow the research to be led by scientists in each Congo Basin country, rather than by scientists from outside the region. By building capacity and national leadership in Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, and Republic of the Congo, we expect this to lead to advocating for high-quality forest monitoring, and to self-sustain the scientific monitoring networks and evidence base needed to better manage high value forests.

CongoFor1.5 will provide processed data on the changes in the structurally intact forest sink, including open data on annual sink estimates. We hope that by doing this, these neglected benefits of intact forests can be leveraged for payments for ecosystem services which could increase forest protection. We also hope that the data we provide will allow central African countries to play their role in the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 1.5°C by the better management of their high carbon stock forests.

CongoFor1.5 is a project led by the African Tropical Rainforest Observatory Network (AfriTRON), an international network of researchers engaged in on-the-ground long-term monitoring of tropical forests, and is funded by the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI) for an initial three years.

Expected outcomes

Provide data from a new re-census of 225 long-term forest plots, and provide information about the carbon sink in structurally intact forests of central Africa over the period, 1983 to 2026, including whether the sink is stable.
By building capacity and national leadership in Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, and Republic of the Congo, we expect this to lead to advocating for high-quality forest monitoring, and to self-sustain the scientific monitoring networks and evidence base needed to better manage high value forests.
Deliver a synthesis of our results to policy makers to improve the protection of central Africa’s structurally intact forests.

Synergies with CBSI

CongoFor1.5 includes training eight Masters students, two in each focal country – Cameroon, DRC, Gabon and Republic of the Congo – with plot-related projects. We will use CBSI resources to advertise the studentships, and the CBSI student portal to recruit the students, and the students will be part of CBSI.

CongoFor1.5 will contribute to the Vegetation, Soil and Biogeochemistry Observatory, to complement the efforts under CRAFT-Sustainable Development (Congo Rainforest Alliance for Forest Training for Sustainable Development) on selectively logged forest and agroforests.

Datasets and publications will be made open access in accordance with CBSI Open Data policies.