November 15, 2024

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Congo peat: ‘human lungs’ in danger

Congo peat: ‘human lungs’ in danger

photo credit, Daniel Beltra / Greenpeace Africa

BBC Africa correspondent Andrew Harding says a huge slab of carbon-rich peat, discovered in central Africa, is threatened by uncontrolled development, posing a major threat to future climate change.

After ten hours in the car, another ten hours in a canoe in a river, three hours cutting their way with a machete through dense tropical bush, and then two more wading and mountaineering in a swampy forest gorge, the scientists were finally ready to begin their work.

To read exclusively on BBC Africa:

Brushing on mud and mosquitoes, they assembled a long metallic device resembling a key and pushed it deep into a dark spot of dirt.