Capacity Building in the Congo Basin: Rich Resources Requiring Sustainable Development

Abstract

The Congo Basin is a unique freshwater ecosystem supporting hundreds of millions of people and a crucial part of regulating Earth’s water cycle. Increasing international attention on its resource potential brings worrying pressures to this understudied region. Equitable collaboration is the key to understanding this complex, interconnected system and enabling its sustainable development. The Congo Basin is a unique freshwater ecosystem supporting hundreds of millions of people and a crucial part of regulating Earth’s water cycle. Increasing international attention on its resource potential brings worrying pressures to this understudied region. Equitable collaboration is the key to understanding this complex, interconnected system and enabling its sustainable development. The Congo Basin is an especially important ecosystem not only because it is very large but also because we are only now beginning to understand its uniqueness. This is the second-largest river system in the world and supports millions of livelihoods through transport, fishing, and timber, and yet we know relatively little about how it functions. As human pressures on the basin grow, we are in danger of losing this system before we have really begun to understand it. How can we protect this important system without holding back the improvement of the lives of those who reside within the basin? Its sustainable development will rely on a much-improved understanding of the Congo Basin, as well as equitable inclusion of those who live in the basin. The Congo River is unique. Unlikely many river systems, one of its steepest reaches is near the river mouth. The whole river cascades energetically 270 m down to the sea over its last stretch rather than lazily winding its way to the sea. This impressive energy produces plunge pools up to 165 m deep, creating the deepest river system in the world.1Jackson, P.R., Oberg, K.A., Gardiner, N., and Shelton, J. (2009). Velocity mapping in the Lower Congo River: a first look at the unique bathymetry and hydrodynamics of Bulu Reach, West Central Africa. Proceedings of the IAHR Symposium on River Coastal and Estuarine Morphodynamics 6, 1007–1014.Google Scholar But much of the main river system flows through the Cuvette Centrale, a large, shallow depression in the middle of the African river. This depression results in a river that is multi-channeled, ∼10 km wide, and only between 5 and 10 m deep for much of this reach. This hydrological uniqueness leads to unique ecosystem services within the basin. Whereas the cascades to the sea prevent ocean-going shipping from accessing the center of the Congo, the vast, shallow, sloped river of the Cuvette Centrale provides incredible transport opportunities throughout the river basin (Figure 1). In a region with few functioning roads, the more than 25,000 km of navigable river routes allow the people living in the region to connect with the wider ecosystem services provided by the basin (Figure 2). Fish and timber for charcoal are able to reach the large population centers, such as Kinshasa and Brazzaville, many hundreds of kilometers away, sustaining a combined population of around 15 million. Reliance on charcoal from the huge forests of the Cuvette Centrale is especially important because of the high levels of poverty within the basin and the lack of access to electricity. These services provide livelihoods for hundreds of millions of people who live within the nine countries that form the basin.Figure 2A Riverside Market in the Cuvette Centrale of the Congo BasinView Large Image Figure ViewerDownload (PPT) Although we are still working to understand how and when water fluxes transfer between the river and the Cuvette Centrale,2Carr A.B. Trigg M.A. Tshimanga R.M. Borman D.J. Smith M.W. Greater water surface variability revealed by new Congo River field data: implications for satellite altimetry measurements of large rivers.Geophys. Res. Lett. 2019; 46: 8093-8101Crossref Scopus (4) Google Scholar we do know that they are closely coupled. Changes to the river system affect navigation as well as the river’s role in sustaining the Cuvette Centrale wetlands. The tropical rainforest and wetlands are home to many unique species and critical ecosystems. The mosaic of rivers, forests, savannas, swamps, and flooded forests that make up the Congo Basin support thousands of species, including endangered wildlife such as forest elephants, chimpanzees, bonobos, and lowland and mountain gorillas. Development along the Congo, such as poorly planned hydropower projects, could be a risk to this rich biodiversity.3Winemiller K.O. McIntyre P.B. Castello L. Fluet-Chouinard E. Giarrizzo T. Nam S. Baird I.G. Darwall W. Lujan N.K. Harrison I. et al.DEVELOPMENT AND ENVIRONMENT. Balancing hydropower and biodiversity in the Amazon, Congo, and Mekong.Science. 2016; 351: 128-129Crossref PubMed Scopus (643) Google Scholar However, the Congo basin also hosts vital global assets. The most extensive peatland complex in the tropics has recently been discovered in the forests of the Cuvette Centrale. The carbon stored in these peat deposits is estimated to be equivalent to the carbon stored in the entirety of above-ground rainforest biomass.4Dargie G.C. Lewis S.L. Lawson I.T. Mitchard E.T. Page S.E. Bocko Y.E. Ifo S.A. Age, extent and carbon storage of the central Congo Basin peatland complex.Nature. 2017; 542: 86-90Crossref PubMed Scopus (213) Google Scholar In addition, the basin serves a vital role in the global water cycle in that its forests recycle water, helping to sustain rainfall that is vital for crop irrigation and drinking water in regions such as the Ethiopian Highlands.5Spracklen D.V. Arnold S.R. Taylor C.M. Observations of increased tropical rainfall preceded by air passage over forests.Nature. 2012; 489: 282-285Crossref PubMed Scopus (305) Google Scholar Development of this river system must happen carefully or we risk losing many of these unique and crucial characteristics. Despite its unique nature and the breadth of resource potential, the Congo remains a comparatively understudied and underutilized river system. Of course, many would argue that the conflicts and political instabilities within the region have provided some protection for the basin’s valuable freshwater ecosystems, and therefore development should be prevented. However, the reality is that unsustainable and inequitable exploitation of the region’s resources is underway—leading to continued instability—and drives much of the poverty that we see today. There is no doubt that development is happening one way or another, but it comes down to how we want this to happen and how we ensure that it is sustainable. UN population data show a population growth rate of around 3% per year, with a potential to double in 25–30 years, in the region of the Congo Basin. The majority of the population is low income and relies on rain-fed, subsistence agriculture with slash-and-burn cultivation. There is strong evidence that a significant proportion of the deforestation in the Congo is caused by small-scale agricultural clearance.6Tyukavina A. Hansen M.C. Potapov P. Parker D. Okpa C. Stehman S.V. Kommareddy I. Turubanova S. Congo Basin forest loss dominated by increasing smallholder clearing.Sci. Adv. 2018; 4: t2993Crossref Scopus (50) Google Scholar These practices are linked to poverty and a lack of equitable development rather than just a lack of development. The reasons behind this poverty are complex and multifaceted, but international interests, armed conflict, and colonial history all play a role in holding back equitable development in the region.7Olaopa O.R. Ojakorotu V. Conflict about natural resources and the prospect of development in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).J. Soc. Sci. 2016; 49: 244-256Google Scholar However, international interest in the region is growing. Minerals are a well-known source of conflict in the region, leading to environmental degradation and measurable impacts on sediment transport in this great river system.8Mushi C.A. Ndomba P.M. Trigg M.A. Tshimanga R.M. Mtalo F. Assessment of basin-scale soil erosion within the Congo River Basin: a review.Catena. 2019; 178: 64-76Crossref Scopus (12) Google Scholar Timber extraction is growing as a result of complex global commodity chains. For example, recent research suggests that US demand for Chinese furniture is correlated with Chinese imports of timber from the Congo Basin.9Fuller T.L. Narins T.P. Nackoney J. Bonebrake T.C. Sesink Clee P. Morgan K. Tróchez A. Bocuma Meñe D. Bongwele E. Njabo K.Y. Anthony N.M. Assessing the impact of China’s timber industry on Congo Basin land use change.Area. 2019; 51: 340-349Crossref Scopus (9) Google Scholar Energy and water within the Congo Basin are also now a strong focus of a variety of “visions” of the basin’s future natural-resource potential. For example, the Grand Inga Dam has the potential to have twice the power output of the Three Gorges Dam in China. There is also the much-talked-about inter-basin water transfer from the Oubangui tributary to sustain the water resources in the Lake Chad Basin.10Alsdorf D. Beighley E. Laraque A. Lee H. Tshimanga R. O’Loughlin F. Mahé G. Dinga B. Moukandi G. Spencer R.G. Opportunities for hydrologic research in the Congo Basin.Rev. Geophys. 2016; 54: 378-409Crossref Scopus (51) Google Scholar Although challenges to sustainable development are significant and it is easy to frame them from a negative viewpoint, many positive initiatives and programs are also making headway. For example, the Brazzaville Declaration, a historic agreement to promote better management and conservation of the world’s largest tropical peatlands, was signed by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, and Indonesia in March 2018. Although a declaration does not automatically confer protection, it is a clear sign that national authorities are committed to a sustainable future in the region. March 2019 saw the UN announcement of a new conservation program, “Six countries, one forest, one future,” for the Congo Basin. The aim of the program is to create a better enabling environment for forest governance, support land-use planning, strengthen the management and financing of protected areas, and decrease the impacts of natural-resource use by local communities and the private sector. Many of these initiatives were informed and made possible by recent scientific research undertaken within the basin. Clearly there remains a lot of scientific understanding to be gained by more extensive and interdisciplinary research of the Congo Basin, and this would be valuable to ensure its sustainable development and management. With the increase in development pressures being brought to bear on this critical river basin, this needs to happen sooner rather than later. Given the obvious importance that recent discoveries bestow on the Congo’s future, it is somewhat surprising that research on the Congo Basin has been very limited—there have been an order-of-magnitude fewer scientific publications on the Congo Basin than on the Amazon Basin.10Alsdorf D. Beighley E. Laraque A. Lee H. Tshimanga R. O’Loughlin F. Mahé G. Dinga B. Moukandi G. Spencer R.G. Opportunities for hydrologic research in the Congo Basin.Rev. Geophys. 2016; 54: 378-409Crossref Scopus (51) Google Scholar Why is this? Although the remoteness and gross domestic product of the basin contribute to the level of scientific knowledge,11Praskievicz S. “Reading a river” through Google Scholar hyperlinks: comparing four major international river systems.in: Brunn S.D. Kehrein R. Handbook of the Changing World Language Map. Springer, 2020: 3119-3140Crossref Scopus (1) Google Scholar there are also many other factors at play. The UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization has identified factors such as the need for funding for governance structures, capacity building in research institutes, and support for scientists and industry to network both within the country and internationally.12Andersen C. “Scientific independence”, capacity building, and the development of UNESCO’s science and technology agenda for Africa.Can. J. Afr. Stud. 2016; 50: 379-394Google Scholar These challenges to home-grown science lead to many disparities in terms of opportunities and recognition for local scientists.13Atickem A. Stenseth N.C. Fashing P.J. Nguyen N. Chapman C.A. Bekele A. Mekonnen A. Omeja P.A. Kalbitzer U. Build science in Africa.Nature. 2019; 570: 297-300Crossref PubMed Scopus (7) Google Scholar They also result in a very strong bias in the authorship of scientific publications and a tendency to relegate a collaborative partner’s role to that of a means of conducting fieldwork.14Boshoff N. Neo-colonialism and research collaboration in Central Africa.Scientometrics. 2009; 81: 413-434Crossref Scopus (73) Google Scholar Some argue that this shows a continued influence of colonialism in science that we must be aware of and address when we practice science in this context.15Rohan D.R. Science still bears the fingerprints of colonialism. Smithsonian magazine, April 9, 2018.https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/science-bears-fingerprints-colonialism-180968709/Date: 2018Google Scholar Fortunately, this position is beginning to change with major shifts in policy toward capacity building in order to enable more scientific independence, which is more in line with governments’ needs than the past focus on national science institutions.12Andersen C. “Scientific independence”, capacity building, and the development of UNESCO’s science and technology agenda for Africa.Can. J. Afr. Stud. 2016; 50: 379-394Google Scholar Encouragingly, there are also Congo-specific examples of capacity growth, such as the creation of the Congo Basin Water Resources Research Center an independent home-grown research body that has developed out of several international and national research collaborations focused on water. Although there are some major challenges to ensuring sustainable development in the Congo Basin, there are equally good reasons to hope for step changes in research investment and output to address these. On the basis of our own positive experience with the Congo River User Hydraulics and Morphology project, we see some key focus areas if we are to achieve this. First, there needs to be an increase in international awareness and research funding both nationally and internationally. This science funding should invest in research in the Congo and not just research about the Congo. To be most effective, research funds need to increase local research capacity through equal-partnership collaborations, as well as deliver high-quality research. If there is to be a long-term change in policies and behavior toward sustainable practices, these research collaborations must be truly equitable. African scientists need to be at the center of developing this new understanding of the Congo basin so that it is not simply “wisdom” provided from afar and is therefore more likely to have an impact on local policymakers. Second, international scientists need to truly engage with the region. We need to accept that international scientists have an unfair advantage in terms of resources and opportunities and address this in our research with our partners within the region. Scientists should not be driven by attaining the accolades of science but rather by scientific curiosity and friendship. There needs to be a recognition that our partners are not just there to do fieldwork but also have knowledge and expertise that we should respect and utilize, even if this is not always easy because of language or cultural differences. We must be cognizant of the political and cultural history of the region and how colonial attitudes still affect our view and approach to the region. Collectively we can make a positive contribution to this complex interdisciplinary and multi-national challenge, but it requires respect. Third, the research needs to engage with those it affects if it is to be sustainable and equitable. Using easily accessible global datasets and models is almost essential for science research in the region given the vast scale of the basin and the data-availability challenges. These can be seen as a tempting route to a quick paper, but we need to remember that these methods have well-documented limitations without the use of ground truthing or a local system understanding. If we are bypassing local institutions because of the challenges of interacting and traveling to the region, we are undermining the development of local capacity to undertake the very measurements that are required by high-quality science and thereby undermining the credibility of our findings. Fourth and finally, we need to make sure that our projects and networks are sustained; otherwise, all of these efforts are self-limiting. This is a huge scientific challenge, and we need to be in this for the long term, which means looking and sourcing continued funding for our collaborative efforts. As researchers we must ensure that our research is inclusive if we wish it to have an impact, and this means equally valuing all of those working on this complex system. This is an exceptionally exciting time for scientific research within this unique basin as we increase our understanding of how it functions and the links with the ecosystem services it provides. However, we know that the development that is already happening has the potential to irreparably degrade this unique river system, and in many cases is not equitable. However, with a collaboratively developed understanding, we will find ourselves in a position where we can provide credible scientific knowledge that can underpin truly sustainable and equitable development within this rapidly changing region. Funding was provided by the Royal Society -DFID Africa Capacity Building Initiative (grant AQ150005 ).