Deep in the heart of Africa lies the Cuvette Centrale, home to the world’s largest tropical peatlands—a hidden treasure storing three years’ worth of global fossil fuel emissions. After decades of mystery, scientists are now racing to understand and protect this critical ecosystem before it’s too late.
Stretching across the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the Republic of the Congo (RoC), the vast Cuvette Centrale peatlands span an area larger than England—167,600 km² of dense, waterlogged vegetation. Beneath its surface lies a staggering 29 billion tons of carbon, equivalent to three years of global fossil fuel emissions and representing about 36% of the world's tropical peatland area. While scientists have known about the presence of peat in the Cuvette Centrale since the 1950s, their scale remained undiscovered until the 2010s when a research team of scientists from Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the University of Leeds conducted field expeditions into the peatlands. Their fieldwork unveiled the true size of this ecosystem and produced the first generation of maps.
Building on this foundational work, the IKI-funded Congo Basin Peatlands Project: "Securing crucial biodiversity, carbon and water stores in the Congo Basin Peatlands by enabling evidence-based decision-making and good governance" is developing next generation maps to further enhance our understanding of the peatlands. In tandem with this mapping initiative, the project is training the next generation of researchers, equipping them with the skills needed to support the sustainable management of these intricate peatland ecosystems.
Data collection and training of the early career scientists was thus the primary focus of two expeditions in 2024, which explored previously unsampled areas of the Cuvette Centrale. Twelve early career researchers from the Université de Kinshasa, Université de Kisangani, Université Pédagogique Nationale de Kinshasa in DRC, and Université Marien Ngouabi in Congo teamed up with senior scientists from these institutions as well as scientists from the University of Leeds. The teams conducted comprehensive field studies in previously unsampled and very hard-to-reach peatlands in the Cuvette Centrale. They gained practical skills through field research that is providing insight into the amount of carbon stored in the peat and also offers information about the botanical biodiversity hosted in the ecosystem.
The importance of these expeditions, which brought early career scientists together with senior researchers into hard-to-reach areas in the peatlands cannot be overstated. The more ground data these scientists have from this large, inaccessible region, the most confidence they can have in their maps of peatland extent. The involvement of these early career scientists in peatlands research will support this research. This network of local researchers from the Cuvette Centrale will also be an effective resource the government can turn to for support in managing and conserving this vast peatlands.
By building this network of trained and capable peatlands researchers and developing next-generation Congo Peatlands maps, the Congo Basin Peatlands Project is supporting efforts to combat climate change and biodiversity loss, ultimately contributing to protect the world’s largest peatlands complex for the benefit of future generations.
About the Congo Basin and the Congo Basin Peatlands Project
The Congo Basin contains the world's second-largest rainforest. Covering 200 million hectares, it provides essential support for unique biodiversity, including the endangered great apes and forest elephants, while ensuring food security and livelihoods for some 65 million people.
This 200 million hectare forest is also home to the world's largest tropical peat complex, known as the central Congo Basin Peatlands. This complex stores an impressive 29 billion tons of carbon, which is equivalent to about three years' worth of global fossil fuel emissions. The peatlands span 167,600 km² across the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the Republic of the Congo (RoC) in an area called the Cuvette Central. This ecosystem sustains the livelihoods of more than five million people, and is home to 1000 bird species, 700 fish species and around 10,000 species of tropical plants.
UNEP is working with partners and stakeholders to preserve and sustainably manage the Congo Basin Peatlands. The project “Securing crucial biodiversity, carbon and water stores in the Congo Basin Peatlands by enabling evidence-based decision making and good governance” is a pillar of UNEP’s engagement with the governments of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of Congo to advance peatlands conservation.
Find out more about our work here.