{{Short description|Region in the Democratic Republic of the Congo}} The '''Cuvette Centrale''' ([[French language|French]]: "Central Basin") is a region of forests and wetlands in the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]]. Some definitions consider the region to extend into the [[Republic of the Congo]] as well.<ref name="Dargie2017">{{cite journal|last1=Dargie|first1=Greta C.|last2=Lewis|first2=Simon L.|last3=Lawson|first3=Ian T.|last4=Mitchard|first4=Edward T.A.|last5=Page|first5=Susan E.|last6=Bocko|first6=Yannick E.|last7=Ifo|first7=Suspense A.|title=Age, extent and carbon storage of the central Congo Basin peatland complex|journal=Nature|date=11 January 2017|volume=542|issue=Month 2017|pages=86–90|doi=10.1038/nature21048|pmid=28077869|bibcode=2017Natur.542...86D|s2cid=205253362|url=http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/111018/1/Age%2C%20extent%20and%20carbon%20storage%20of%20the%20central%20Congo.pdf}}</ref> It lies in the center of the [[Congo Basin]], bounded on the west, north and east by the arc of the [[Congo River]].
==Description== A lake covered the region during the [[Pliocene]] epoch, which was gradually filled with sediments, and the surface of the basin is very flat. Slow-moving tributaries of the Congo, including the [[Lopori River|Lopori]], [[Maringa River|Maringa]], [[Ikelemba River|Ikelemba]], [[Tshuapa River|Tshuapa]], [[Lomela River|Lomela]] and [[Lokoro River|Lokoro]], drain westward.
The region lies on the [[equator]], where the climate is tropical and humid. Rainfall averages 2,000 mm annually.
The [[Eastern Congolian swamp forests]] extend along the Congo River and its chief tributaries, and cover wide areas in the western portion of the Cuvette Centrale. These swamp forests are seasonally or permanently flooded. The [[Central Congolian lowland forests]] extend across the remaining portion of the region. The swamp forests are home to endangered species of megafauna, including [[lowland gorilla]]s and [[forest elephant]]s.<ref name="Dargie2017"/>
==Climate change== {{See also|Climate change in the Democratic Republic of the Congo}} [[File:Garcin 2022 Cuvette Centrale.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.35|Map of Cuvette Centrale location in the [[Congo Basin]]. Three graphs portray the evolution of its peatland carbon content over the past 20,000 years, as reconstructed from three peat cores.]] In 2017, it was discovered that 40% of the Cuvette Centrale wetlands are underlain with a dense layer of [[peat]], which contains around 30 petagrams (billions of tons) of [[carbon]]. This amounts to 28% of all tropical peat carbon, equivalent to the carbon contained in all the forests of the Congo Basin. In other words, while this peatland only covers 4% of the Congo Basin area, its carbon content is equal to that of all trees in the other 96%.<ref name="Dargie2017"/><ref name="Lewisdiscovery">{{Cite web|url=https://www.carbonbrief.org/guest-post-vast-carbon-store-found-congo-swamp-forest/ |title=Guest post: Vast carbon store found under Congo swamp forest|last=Lewis|first=Simon|date=13 January 2017|website=Carbon Brief|language=en |access-date=2023-01-15}}</ref><ref name="Lewispoint">{{Cite web|url=https://www.carbonbrief.org/guest-post-vast-carbon-store-found-congo-swamp-forest/ |title=Guest post: Discovering a potential 'tipping point' for Congo's tropical peatland|last=Lewis|first=Simon|date=2 November 2022|website=Carbon Brief|language=en |access-date=2023-01-15}}</ref> It was then estimated that if all of that peat burned, the atmosphere would absorb the equivalent of 20 years of current [[United States]] [[carbon dioxide]] emissions, or three years of all anthropogenic {{CO2}} emissions.<ref name="Lewisdiscovery"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/09/inside-search-for-africa-carbon-time-bomb-peatland/|title=Inside the search for Africa's carbon time bomb|last=Grossman|first=Daniel|date=2019-10-01|website=National Geographic|language=en|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191002104412/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/09/inside-search-for-africa-carbon-time-bomb-peatland/ |archive-date=2019-10-02 |access-date=2019-10-11}}</ref>
This threat prompted the signing of Brazzaville Declaration in March 2018: an agreement between [[Democratic Republic of Congo]], the [[Republic of Congo]] and [[Indonesia]] (a country with longer experience of managing its own tropical peatlands) aiming to promote better management and conservation of this region.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/press-release/historic-agreement-signed-protect-worlds-largest-tropical-peatland|title=Historic agreement signed to protect the world's largest tropical peatland|website=UNEP - UN Environment Programme|date=23 March 2018}}</ref> However, 2022 research by the same team which had originally discovered this peatland not only revised its area (from the original estimate of {{convert|145,500|km2|sqmi}} to {{convert|167,600|km2|sqmi}}) and depth (from {{convert|2|m|ft|abbr=on}} to ({{convert|1.7|m|ft|abbr=on}}) but also noted that only 8% of this peat carbon is currently covered by the existing [[protected area]]s. For comparison, 26% of its peat is located in areas open to [[logging]], [[mining]] or [[palm oil]] plantations, and nearly all of this area is open for [[fossil fuel]] exploration.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Crezee|first1=Bart|last2=Dargie|first2=Greta C.|last3=Corneille|first3=E. N. Ewango|last4=Mitchard|first4=Edward T.A.|last5=Ovide|first5=Emba B.|last6=Kanyama T.|first6=Joseph|last7=Bola|first7=Pierre|last8=Ndjango|first8=Jean-Bosco N.|last9=Girkin|first9=Nicholas T.|last10=Bocko|first10=Yannick E.|last11=Ifo|first11=Suspense A.|last12=Hubau|first12=Wannes|last13=Seidensticker|first13=Dirk|last14=Batumike|first14=Rodrigue|last15=Imani|first15=Gérard|last16=Cuní-Sanchez|first16=Aida|last17=Kiahtipes|first17=Christopher A.|last18=Lebamba|first18=Judicaël|last19=Wotzka|first19=Hans-Peter|last20=Bean|first20=Hollie T.|last21=Baker|first21=Timothy R.|last22=Baird|first22=Andy J.|last23=Boom|first23=Arnoud|last24=Morris|first24=Paul J.|last25=Lawson|first25=Ian T.|last26=Page|first26=Susan E.|last27=Lewis|first27=Simon L.|title=Mapping peat thickness and carbon stocks of the central Congo Basin using field data|url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-022-00966-7 |journal=Nature Geoscience|date=21 July 2022|volume=15|issue=August 2022|pages=639–644|doi=10.1038/s41561-022-00966-7 |s2cid=250928067 |doi-access=free|hdl=10023/26809|hdl-access=free}}</ref>
Even in the absence of local disturbance from these activities, this area is the most vulnerable store of tropical peat carbon in the world, as its climate is already much drier than that of the other tropical peatlands in the [[Southeast Asia]] and the [[Amazon rainforest]]. A 2022 study suggests that the geologically recent conditions between 7,500 years ago and 2,000 years ago were already dry enough to cause substantial peat release from this area, and that these conditions are likely to recur in the near future under continued [[climate change]]. In this case, Cuvette Centrale would act as one of the [[tipping points in the climate system]] at some yet unknown time.<ref name="Lewispoint" /><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Garcin|first1=Yannick|last2=Schefuß|first2=Enno|last3=Dargie|first3=Greta C.|last4=Hawthorne|first4=Donna|last5=Lawson|first5=Ian T.|last6=Sebag|first6=David|last7=Biddulph|first7=George E.|last8=Crezee|first8=Bart|last9=Bocko|first9=Yannick E.|last10=Ifo|first10=Suspense A.|last11=Wenina |first11=Emmanuel Mampouya|last12=Mbemba|first12=Mackline|last13=Corneille|first13=E. N. Ewango|last14=Ovide|first14=Emba B.|last15=Bola|first15=Pierre|last16=Kanyama T.|first16=Joseph|last17=Tyrrell|first17=Genevieve|last18=Young|first18=Dylan M.|last19=Gassier|first19=Ghislain|last20=Girkin|first20=Nicholas T.|last21=Vane|first21=Christopher H. |last22=Adatte|first22=Thierry|last23=Baird|first23=Andy J.|last24=Boom|first24=Arnoud|last25=Gulliver|first25=Pauline|last26=Morris|first26=Paul J.|last27=Page|first27=Susan E.|last28=Sjögersten|first28=Sofie|last29=Lewis|first29=Simon L.|title=Hydroclimatic vulnerability of peat carbon in the central Congo Basin|journal=Nature|date=2 November 2022|volume=612|issue=November 2022|pages=277–282|doi=10.1038/s41586-022-05389-3 |pmid=36323786 |pmc=9729114 }}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}} * Toham, Andre Kamdem ''et al.'', eds. (2006). ''A Vision for Biodiversity Conservation in Central Africa: Biological Priorities for Conservation in the Guinean-Congolian Forest and Freshwater Region''. World Wildlife Fund, Washington DC. Page A-55. * {{WWF ecoregion|name=Central Congolian lowland forests|accessdate=February 3, 2008|id=at0104}}
[[Category:Ecoregions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo]] [[Category:Freshwater ecoregions of Africa]] [[Category:Geography of the Democratic Republic of the Congo]] [[Category:Regions of Africa]]