Congo River basin

• IDENTIFICATION: Central African watershed that drains into the Congo River in its passage to the Atlantic Ocean
• The Congo River basin contains rich biodiversity and considerable mineral wealth, but because the area is shared by a number of countries, the exploitation of the basin’s resources is often uncontrolled. As a result, the habitats of many species native to the basin have been disturbed or destroyed, and several species have become endangered.

The Congo River basin covers an area of 3.7 million square kilometers (1.4 million square miles) that includes all of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC; formerly known as Zaire) and the Republic of the Congo (ROC), most of the Central African Republic, and sections of Angola, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, and Zambia. It includes the Lake Tanganyika basin to the east, which is best seen as a subbasin, the lake itself being in a separate rift valley. In the north, the Ubangi River is the main tributary to the Congo River. The Congo River itself is 4,700 kilometers (2,920 miles) long, having its source in Zambia. It is the deepest river in the world and the second-longest river in Africa, after the Nile.

The river basin is the world’s second-largest tropical rainforest; in addition to the forest ecosystems, areas of savanna are found in the northeast and south, and high mountains to the east contain alpine meadow. Transport through the basin is achieved mainly by water, along the extensive system of rivers. Roads and railroads are linked to river ports, many of which are connected to various mining and quarrying activities; all such transportation routes are generally in poor states of repair. Since the late twentieth century, increasing numbers of logging roads have been opened into the rainforests. Few large towns and cities are located in the basin; those that have been established are situated mainly on the River Congo itself.

The river has not been harnessed for hydroelectric purposes to any great extent, but ambitious plans were proposed in the late 2010s to add two much larger dams to two existing dams at Inga Falls, southwest of the capital cities of Kinshasa (DRC) and Brazzaville (ROC). However, the project was continuously delayed due to funding and other issues.

In the past, extensive mining operations in the DRC, mainly in the south of the country along the Zambia border, have brought little benefit to the country. In the early twenty-first century, China negotiated an extensive deal to build roads, railways, hospitals, and schools for the DRC and the ROC in return for mining copper, nickel, and cobalt at certain concessions. The DRC is estimated to hold 68 percent of the world’s cobalt and 10 percent of its copper.

The main ecological threat to the Congo River basin comes from deforestation caused by uncontrolled logging and agricultural clearance, and the subsequent destruction of animal habitats. Many endangered species are native to the basin, foremost among them the mountain gorillas in the Virunga National Park in the east. The civil war that was fought in the DRC between 1998 and 2003, along with later turmoil, did great damage to the park. Also at risk are forest elephants, hippopotamuses, pygmy chimpanzees, western lowland gorillas, and the primates drills and mandrills. The chimpanzee population in the DRC is estimated to have declined from 2 million in the 1900s to as low as 170,000 in the 2020s. Many of these species have been killed for food or have been killed or captured for sale in the illegal exotic pet trade.

Bibliography

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Smyth, Jamie, and Rob Rose. "World Bank ‘Optimistic’ about Giant African Hydro Project." Financial Times, 8 Feb. 2024, www.ft.com/content/17d5142a-8835-4b42-841a-7e8eb0db3b45. Accessed 25 Aug. 2025.

Surhone, Lambert M., et al., editors. Tropical and Subtropical Forests: Congo Basin, Amazon Basin. Beau Bassin, Mauritius: Betascript, 2010.