Cuvette Centrale

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The Cuvette Centrale (French: "Central Basin") is a region of forests and wetlands in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Some definitions consider the region to extend into the Republic of the Congo as well.[1] The Cuvette Centrale lies in the center of the Congo Basin, and is bounded on the west, north, and east by the arc of the Congo River.

History and description[]

A lake covered the region during the Pliocene epoch, which was gradually filled with sediments, and the surface of the basin is very flat. Slow-moving tributaries of the Congo, including the Lopori, Maringa, Ikelemba, Tshuapa, Lomela, and Lokoro, drain westwards.

The region lies on the Equator, and the climate is tropical and humid. Rainfall averages 2,000 mm annually.

The Eastern Congolian swamp forests extend along the Congo River and its chief tributaries, and cover wide areas in the western portion of the Cuvette Centrale. These swamp forests are seasonally or permanently flooded. The Central Congolian lowland forests extend across the remaining portion of the region. The swamp forests are home to endangered species of megafauna, including lowland gorillas and forest elephants.[1]

The region contains peat and is one of the world's biggest stocks of soil carbon. The peat layer has a median depth of 2 m and contains an estimated 30 petagrams of carbon below ground, comparable to the above ground carbon stock in the forests of the Congo Basin.[1] If a third of this peat were to burn, atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide would double, and the earth's atmosphere would warm by 5 degrees Fahrenheit, endangering life.[2]

In March 2018, the "Brazzaville Declaration" was signed to promote better management and conservation of the Cuvette Centrale, a region in Congo basin and primarily in DRC. It is the world's largest tropical peatland, made up of swamp forests. Conservation of this area is important for the survival of megafauna, and also critical to the world's climate. Burning the peat would release too much carbon and raise the earth's temperature. The declaration to save peatlands as the world's largest terrestrial organic carbon stock was signed by Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo, and Indonesia, which also has peatlands.[3]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c Dargie, Greta C.; Lewis, Simon L.; Lawson, Ian T.; Mitchard, Edward T.A.; Page, Susan E.; Bocko, Yannick E.; Ifo, Suspense A. (11 January 2017). "Age, extent and carbon storage of the central Congo Basin peatland complex" (PDF). Nature. 542 (Month 2017): 86–90. Bibcode:2017Natur.542...86D. doi:10.1038/nature21048. PMID 28077869. S2CID 205253362.
  2. ^ Grossman, Daniel (2019-10-01). "Inside the search for Africa's carbon time bomb". National Geographic. Archived from the original on 2019-10-02. Retrieved 2019-10-11.
  3. ^ "Historic agreement signed to protect the world's largest tropical peatland". UNEP - UN Environment Programme. 23 March 2018.
  • Toham, Andre Kamdem et al., eds. (2006). A Vision for Biodiversity Conservation in Central Africa: Biological Priorities for Conservation in the Guinean-Congolian Forest and Freshwater Region. World Wildlife Fund, Washington DC. Page A-55.
  • "Central Congolian lowland forests". Terrestrial Ecoregions. World Wildlife Fund. Retrieved February 3, 2008.
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