The Congo Basin – the world’s second largest tropical forest spanning six countries in Central Africa – is considered the most important global carbon sink after the Amazon.
now the world’s most important carbon sink
Gabon 85% covered in carbon absorbing rainforest
one of the world’s very few net sequesters of carbon
With the Amazon en route to becoming a net carbon emitter, the Congo Basin’s forests have become a centre of focus in terms of global climate change mitigation.
Gabon, located in equatorial Africa, is host to extraordinary biodiversity with tropical forest covering more than 85% of its landscape. In 2002, 13 National Parks were created, protecting 11% of its territory and establishing the country as a leader in embedding conservation in development policy and planning. The country has been ranked as the second highest performer in Africa across a range of environmental indicators.
National parks
Forestry concessions
Grande Mayumba landscape
Libreville
Petit Loango LodgeTchibanga
Grande MayumbaAtlantic Ocean
Equatorial guinea
Republic of Congo
50 km
High forest, low deforestation
Gabon is defined as a High Forest, Low Deforestation (HFLD) country; the category applying to countries with less than 0.22% deforestation per annum and over 50% forest cover. HFLD countries make a significant contribution to the conservation of global carbon stocks but are currently locked out of international climate finance due to existing carbon methodologies failing to recognise their value.
Gabon has a positive carbon sequestration position, which means that the country absorbs more carbon than it emits. This has been achieved by concerted national action to conserve the country’s forests and pioneer new models for sustainable green growth while reducing its historical dependency on oil revenues.
Estimated
>0.1%
deforestation per annum
Over
100mt CO₂
absorbed per annum
With
88%
tropical forest cover
“More than 30 years of deliberate policy has preserved our forests. We now need to develop a carbon credit market to progress our objective of sustainable, low carbon economic development for the well-being of our people.”- Tanguy Gahouma-Bekale, Permanent Secretary of Gabon’s National Climate Council
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Grande Mayumba