Azima Magonde Giston is walking through his cacao plantation, which sits on the fringes of a lush rainforest in the northern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). He scans the trees for ripe cacao pods and, spotting one, uses a long bamboo pole with an axe-like tip to knock it down, leaving the surrounding foliage untouched.
Unlike many farmers in the DRC who still practice slash-and-burn agriculture, Giston has come to coexist with the forest, which provides water for his plants and helps the soil they grow in retain moisture.
“The importance of the forest is that it helps us cultivate different types of crops,” says Giston at his farm, where a handful of pigs roamed freely among mud huts searching for food. “It helps us earn a little money, helps our families.”
Giston, who lives near the city of Kisangani, is participating in an ambitious government plan to help communities balance forest conservation with agriculture, forging a sustainable model for development. Long term, experts believe the effort will help bolster local incomes and improve food security, key in a country of 100 million suffering through one of the world’s worst hunger crises. The plan, say those involved, will also help preserve DRC’s rainforest, which plays a critical role in the global battle against climate change.
The Congo Basin contains the world’s second-largest tropical rainforest, spanning about 3.7 million square kilometres and covering a tenth of Africa. Some 60 per cent of the rainforest in the Congo Basin is in the DRC. This vast ecosystem is home to an array of plants and animals, including the iconic mountain gorilla. It also removes planet-warming carbon from the atmosphere and stores it, preventing the element from heating the planet.
But with limited alternatives, many people in the impoverished DRC rely on the rainforest for essential resources, like firewood in a country where 75 percent of the population lives on less than US$2.15 a day. Slash and burn agriculture is responsible for 60 per cent of deforestation in the country. In the face of those challenges, the DRC government launched a national effort – co-developed and supported by the UN-REDD Programme – to combat deforestation, improve livelihoods and protect the rights of those who live beside the forests, including Indigenous Peoples.
The government is granting land concessions to forest-reliant communities near Kisangani, giving them a greater stake in conservation. It is also providing training on more sustainable farming practices, emphasizing how undisturbed forests can improve soil fertility, boost yields, and protect crops against drought and flooding.
“It is very important that we cultivate through agroforestry,” says Ahusa Motoka Henry, a community leader in Bengamisa village on the banks of the Congo River. “So, we protect the forest fiercely. If we do this, there will not be hunger.”
In 2018 the DRC signed an agreement with the World Bank-administered Forest Carbon Partnership Facility that would provide funding directly to communities for keeping trees in the ground. It was the first African nation to do so.
Formally known as results-based payments, arrangements like these are being increasingly used around the world to preserve forests and other land-based ecosystems, which absorb about a third of carbon dioxide emissions. Experts say these payments are an important tool in the campaign to keep global temperature rise to below 1.5°C, one of the key goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change.
The UN-REDD Programme a partnership between the UN Environment Programme, UN Development Programme, and Food and Agriculture Organization, is designed to reduce deforestation and forest degradation. UN-REDD supported the DRC to meet the requirements of global standards for the social and environmental integrity of forest conservation efforts.
Guy Ipanga, REDD+ National Coordinator at the DRC’s Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, says the DRC’s conservation efforts could have international implications.
“The Congolese forest has an important role to play in moderating the global climate,” he says. “The impact of [this project] goes beyond local communities, even beyond our frontier and beyond Africa. It can influence other continents.”
Ultimately, the success of the DRC’s conservation efforts will rely heavily on rural communities, such as those near Kisangani, and small-scale farmers like Giston, say observers.
“Local communities are often the custodians of the forest,” says Maminiaina Rasamoelina, UNEP UN-REDD Africa Technical Coordinator. “Conserving the forests cannot be achieved without them, and securing the necessary financing is crucial to support their well-being and broader conservation efforts.”
UNEP is at the forefront of supporting the Paris Agreement goal of keeping global temperature rise well below 2°C, and aiming for 1.5°C, compared to pre-industrial levels. To do this, UNEP has developed the Sectoral Solution, a roadmap to reducing emissions across sectors in line with the Paris Agreement commitments and in pursuit of climate stability. The six sectors identified are: energy; industry; agriculture and food; forests and land use; transport; and buildings and cities.
