Literature from the Congo Basin offers ways to address the climate crisis

By Dilip -

The African continent is responsible for only 2–3% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions from energy and industrial sources. But it’s alarmingly suffering from the effects of the climate crisis, as reports from the UN and others show. On the positive side, Africa has a huge potential for climate mitigation, especially thanks to its tropical rainforests.

The Congo Basin’s rainforests in central Africa are sometimes called Earth’s second lungs (after the Amazon) because of its ability to store carbon. In addition to the forest trees, the basin has the world’s largest tropical peatlands, discovered in 2017. Scientists estimate that these peatlands store carbon worth about 20 years of the fossil fuel emissions of the US. The Congo Basin is also rich in biodiversity and in minerals. As long as this strategically important and rich region is not destroyed, Africa can help fight global climate change.

The Congo Basin rainforests and people face serious threats from global climate change and other human factors. Commercial logging, mining, extensive agriculture, infrastructural development, rapid urbanisation, energy consumption and transnational wildlife poaching are among them.

Overlooked role of humanities and social sciences: Academics and policy makers tend to see pure sciences as the only disciplines that can offer solutions for ecological challenges. They sometimes overlook the role of the social sciences and humanities, including arts and literature, in addressing climate change and environmental problems.But this is changing, through emerging interdisciplinary fields, such as environmental humanities. …

https://theconversation.com/literature-from-the-congo-basin-offers-ways-to-address-the-climate-crisis-182357


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