Floating cities of logs: can the lungs of Africa' survive its exploitation?

"You can't be scared of the storms, says Jean de Dieu Mokuma as the sun sets on the Congo River behind him. With the current, once your voyage has begun, there is no turning back. Mokuma, along with his wife Marie-Therese and their two young children, is piloting a cargo of timber downstream lashed on to a precarious raft and tied to a canoe."

"Stretching from the mountains of the Albertine Rift to the Atlantic coast, the 2,900-mile (4,700km)-long river and its tributaries sprawl into six nations, nourishing vast networks of rainforests and swamps. The Congo basin is the second largest rainforest on Earth and traps 1.5bn tonnes of carbon emissions a year. It is also one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet and includes more than 10,000 plant species, more than 400 mammal species, 1,000 bird species, and 700 fish species."

"They are stranded overnight outside the chaotic trading town of Mbandaka, where port officials have removed components of Mokuma's outboard motor as assurance that taxes of dubious legality will be paid. If the family overcome the corruption and river currents and arrive with their raft intact, they stand to make $300 (220) from selling the wood to a lumber mill in Kinshasa."

Jean de Dieu Mokuma and his family pilot a precarious raft of timber down the Congo River, tied to a canoe, risking storms and currents that prevent turning back. Port officials in Mbandaka remove outboard motor components as assurance for taxes of dubious legality, delaying and stranding families overnight. Successful arrival in Kinshasa can yield about $300 from selling wood, offering livelihoods beyond dwindling local fishing incomes. The Congo basin spans 2,900 miles across six nations, nourishing rainforests and swamps, trapping 1.5bn tonnes of carbon annually and hosting extraordinary biodiversity including more than 10,000 plant species and hundreds of mammal, bird, and fish species. More than half the basin's forests are in the DRC and face growing pressures.

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