There are places on the face of this Earth that might disappear before we all get a chance to see their beauty. Ironically most of those places will disappear because so many want to see their beauty. At Travel World Passport we will present those places – we hope you enjoy the list of Top Ten Places to See Before They’re Gone. We continue our count down with one of the last resorts of wild nature – The Congo Basin.
The Congo Basin makes up one of the most important wilderness areas left on Earth. At 500 million acres, it is larger than the state of Alaska and stands as the world’s second-largest tropical forest (First being the Amazonia).It is the sedimentary basin of the Congo River. The Congo Basin spans across six countries—Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. The basin begins in the highlands of the East African Rift system with input from the Chambeshi River, the Uele and Ubangi Rivers in the upper reaches and the Lualaba River draining wetlands in the middle reaches.
There are approximately 10, 000 species of tropical plants in the Congo Basin and 30 percent are unique to the region. Endangered wildlife, including forest elephants, chimpanzees, bonobos, and lowland and mountain gorillas inhabit the lush forests. 400 other species of mammals, 1,000 species of birds and 700 species of fish can also be found here. The climate is equatorial tropical, with two rainy seasons including very high rainfalls, and high temperature year round. The basin is home to the endangered western lowland gorilla. But it is not the only specie that is threatened by the human activities.
The Congo Basin is abundant in natural resources such as timber, diamonds and petroleum. It obviously could have some short term benefits for the countries and economies involved, but current methods and rates of extracting these resources are unsustainable and threaten the future of this vast wilderness area. In addition, unsustainable hunting of wildlife for the commercial bushmeat market threatens to wipe out many species. The Congo Basin is also extremely rich in wood, oil and minerals such as diamonds, gold and coltan (used to make cell phones). Many people depend on such resources for their livelihoods, and the global demand for these materials is increasing. And this demand threatens the delicate environment of this area.
A large and growing percentage of the Congo Basin is under concession to logging and mining companies. Such industries bring large groups of people to the forest and with that come their need for food, including bushmeat and fuelwood. Related infrastructure projects—such as roads and dams—have environmental impacts and increase access to remote forest areas for hunters. Another leading cause of wildlife loss in the Congo Basin is the commercial bushmeat trade, driven by an ever increasing market. In the DRC alone, over a million tons of bushmeat are consumed each year. Alarmingly, this lucrative business is causing the forest to become totally empty of species. Animals like monkeys and antelope are common targets, although species such as gorillas and bonobos are also at risk. Another threat is the international demand for ivory that still drives the killing of elephants, leading to local extinctions and threatening to eliminate elephants entirely.
All that summed up means that very soon there might be nothing left to see in this once amazing place on Earth. You might want to visit it soon and we highly encourage to visit the WWF websites or chose to support any other organisation that is willing to preserve the beauty of the area for future generations.
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