Central Africa's rainforests are second only to those of the Amazon basin in terms of size. The 780,000 square miles of rainforest in the Congo river basin cross international borders and harbor thousands of different species of plants and animals.
The vast majority of central Africa's rainforest is found in the basin of the Congo river in western Africa. Greenpeace calculates that around two thirds of this is found in the Democratic Republic of Congo (D.R.C.), but it also takes in parts of Cameroon, Gabon, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea and the Republic of Congo.
The rainforest supports an estimated 8,000 plant species but among the best-known are the oil palm and the mahogany tree. Oil palms are native to the area, but today account for approximately 14 percent of the world's plant-based oils. Mahogany, meanwhile, is used for construction, furniture, flooring and boatbuilding. The okoume tree is not a household name outside the region but is the most harvested species in both Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, according to the Observatoire des Forets d'Afrique Centrale.
Rainforests are the most biodiverse of the Earth's biomes, and the rainforests of Africa are home to thousands of different species, including 1,000 species of birds and 400 different types of mammals. The gorilla is probably the most well-known resident, but poaching and deforestation have reduced their numbers within D.R.C. to an estimated 480 individuals in 2010. The black colobus monkey ranks in the top 10 most endangered monkeys in Africa. It takes its name from a word meaning "mutilated one," a reference to the fact that the monkeys have no thumb. One much smaller but still formidable rainforest resident is the driver ant; living in colonies of up to 22 million, the ants search the forest floor for prey at speeds of up to 65 feet an hour.
More than 60 percent of Congo's population relies on the forest in some way, according to Greenpeace, but the forest's survival is under serious threat. The World Bank has gotten involved to encourage government efforts to control the exploitation of the forest, prevent illegal logging and place at least 15 percent of the forested area of D.R.C. under legal protection, and all seven affected countries signed an agreement in 2005 to protect the remaining rainforest. However, Greenpeace says that not enough is being done, particularly to curb illegal logging by international companies and continues to campaign for more action.
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