Congo Basin rainforest
Topic: World Physical Features and Natural Regions · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The Congo Basin rainforest is the world's second-largest tropical rainforest, after the Amazon. It lies around the Equator in Central Africa. It covers DR Congo, the Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Gabon, the Central African Republic and Equatorial Guinea. Like other equatorial forests, it is hot and wet all year and has dense evergreen trees. It matters for climate because it stores a great deal of carbon.
Example
The forest's Cuvette Centrale is the largest tropical peatland in the world. Peatland is wet ground made of half-rotted plants that locks up carbon. The forest is drained by the Congo River, which crosses the Equator twice.
Don't confuse with
- Amazon rainforest: the largest tropical rainforest (about 5.5 million sq km), in South America and mostly in Brazil. The Congo Basin forest is second, in Central Africa.