A major research collection on African tropical peatlands provides new scientific backing for protecting Congo Basin peatlands and strengthens UNEP’s conservation efforts.
A major research collection published in September provides new scientific backing for protecting Congo Basin peatlands. The special issue, released in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, brings together studies on the ecology, hydrology, and social dimensions of African tropical peatlands. Much of the research centers on the Cuvette Centrale, the vast peat swamp spanning the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Scientists first mapped the full extent of these peatlands in 2017, revealing a wetland larger than England hidden deep in the Congo Basin’s swamp forests. Researchers estimated the area holds roughly 30 billion metric tons of carbon, an amount comparable to about three years of global fossil fuel emissions. That discovery reshaped how researchers think about tropical peatlands’ role in regulating the planet’s carbon cycle.
Keeping that carbon locked underground depends entirely on the peat staying wet. Drainage, agricultural conversion, or sustained drought could release large amounts of stored carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere. Protecting Congo Basin peatlands therefore hinges less on stopping any single threat and more on preserving the hydrological conditions that keep the peat intact.
The new research collection highlights how much remains unknown about these dynamics. Contributors point to persistent gaps in understanding how the peatlands might respond to future shifts in rainfall, temperature, and land use. Closing those gaps has become a priority for governments and international partners working across the region.
International attention around the peatlands has grown steadily since their 2017 discovery. In 2018, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Indonesia signed a joint declaration committing to protect their peatlands from unregulated development. The agreement built on momentum from the Global Peatlands Initiative, which has pushed peatland protection higher on the global policy agenda.
That cooperation extends beyond the three signatory countries themselves. Researchers and policymakers from outside the region have increasingly framed protecting Congo Basin peatlands as a shared international responsibility, given how much global climate stability depends on keeping the carbon in place. Scientific exchange between African, European, and Asian institutions has become a regular feature of that ongoing collaboration.
Protecting Congo Basin peatlands has evolved into a shared international responsibility, with the Republic of Congo, DRC, and Indonesia’s 2018 joint declaration and growing scientific collaboration between African, European, and Asian institutions reflecting global recognition that the climate stability of the entire planet depends on keeping this carbon in the ground. Photo courtesy of the UN Environment Programme.
Much of the scientific groundwork behind that cooperation comes from research programs such as CongoPeat, led by the University of Leeds. The project has mapped peat extent and carbon stocks across the central Congo Basin while studying how the ecosystem has formed and changed over thousands of years. That evidence base now feeds directly into regional conservation planning.
Translating that science into action falls largely to the Congo Basin Landscapes Initiative, a UNEP-led effort working with regional governments and partners. Within that framework, a dedicated peatlands project backed by Germany’s International Climate Initiative is supporting work in the Lac Télé–Lac Tumba landscape. The project represents nearly €15 million in funding between 2022 and 2027.
One tool developed under the project models how different development and climate scenarios could affect water levels and carbon storage across the landscape. Results consistently point to the same conclusion: altering drainage patterns carries real risks for the carbon locked in peat. That finding reinforces why protecting Congo Basin peatlands depends so heavily on careful land-use planning.
Research led by the University of Leeds shows the peatlands remain mostly intact today, though threats from road building, logging, and resource extraction continue to grow around their edges. Keeping that intact status will require sustained funding and coordination well beyond any single research project or funding cycle.
Protecting Congo Basin peatlands adds another layer of evidence to that ongoing effort rather than offering a final answer. Protecting one of the world’s largest carbon stores will continue to depend on scientists, governments, and local communities working from the same shared body of knowledge. For the Congo Basin, that sustained collaboration may matter as much as any single policy or funding commitment.
