Mai Ndombe

The Mai Ndombe REDD+ project is the first REDD project in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – the Congo Basin is home to the second largest rainforest in the world, after the Amazon Basin.. The project protects 300,000 hectare of tropical rainforest and has multiple positive effects on climate change mitigation, the protection of biodiversity and local living conditions. Together with local people and communities it aims to implement sustainable production of firewood and charcoal, build additional schools and improve medical service and sustainable agriculture.
A committe of villagers decides how the carbon revenue will be spent – such as the construction of new schools.
The project area with its dense rain and swamp forest in the western province Bandundu is the natural habitat for chimpanzees, bonobos and forest elephants. The project will preserve ecosystem integrity, healthy soils, watersheds, fish stocks, and wildlife habitat.