Land Allocated to Oil, Gas Exploration in Africa Set to Quadruple, Threatening Forests
- Blocks overlap with 30% of Africa’s tropical forests
- Rainforest Foundation UK, Earth InSight launch report at COP27
Six nations share the Congo Basin, which scientists increasingly recognize as an essential so-called carbon sink.
Photographer: Brent Stirton/Getty Images
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The area of land allocated to oil and gas activity in Africa is set to quadruple, threatening critical forests that help combat climate change, according to a new report by two environmental groups.
Rainforest Foundation UK and Sacramento, California-based Earth InSight used mapping technology to show that gas and oil blocks overlap with about 30% of the continent’s dense tropical forests and more than a third of the Congo Basin, the world’s second-largest rainforest after the Amazon.