Nature
The rainforests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo contain great biodiversity, including many rare and endemic species, including both species of chimpanzee: the Common chimpanzee and the bonobo (also known as the Pygmy Chimpanzee), mountain gorilla, okapi and white rhino. Five of the country's national parks are listed as World Heritage Sites:
- Garumba National Park
- Kahuzi-Biega National Park
- Salonga National Park
- Virunga National Park
- Okapi Wildlife Reserve
However, the civil war and resultant poor economic conditions have endangered much of this biodiversity, and all five sites are listed by UNESCO as World Heritage In Danger.
Over the past century or so, the DRC has developed into the centre of what has been called the Central African 'bushmeat' problem, which is regarded by many as a major environmental, as well as, socio-economic crisis. Bushmeat is typically obtained through trapping wild animals, usually with wire snares, or otherwise with shotguns or arms originally intended for use in the DRC's numerous military conflicts.
The bushmeat crisis has emerged in the DRC mainly as a result of the poor living conditions of the Congolese people. A rising population combined with deplorable economic conditions has forced many Congolese to become dependent on bushmeat, either as a means of acquiring income (hunting the meat and selling), or for food. Unemployment and urbanisation throughout Central Africa have exacerbated the problem further by turning cities like the urban sprawl of Kinshasa into the prime market for bushmeat.
This combination has caused not only widespread endangerment of local fauna, but has forced humans to trudge deeper into the wilderness in search of the desired animal meat. This overhunting results in the deaths of more animals and makes resources even more scarce for humans. The hunting has also been facilitated by the extensive logging prevalent throughout the Congo's rainforests (from corporate logging, in addition to farmers clearing out forest in order to create areas for agriculture), which allows hunters much easier access to previously unreachable jungle terrain, while simultaneously eroding away at the habitats of animals.
A particularly alarming case of bushmeat hunting is that of primates. The Congo is inhabited not only by two distinct species of chimpanzee, both belonging to the genus Pan, the Common chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) and the bonobo (Pan paniscus), but gorilla as well. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is the only country in the world in which bonobo are found in the wild. Because of hunting and habitat destruction, the chimpanzee and the gorilla, both of whose population once numbered in the millions have now dwindled down to only about 200,000 per species. Gorillas and both incarnations of chimpanzee are classified as Endangered by the World Conservation Union, as well as the okapi, which is also native to the area.
