Worker families camp at a log sorting yard on the Congo River near Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. A barefoot logger lumbers an Afromosia (Pericopsys elata) tree with only a chainsaw into planks at an artisanal logging operation at Mugbamboli, Kisangani. View of the rainforest in the Okapi Reserve at Epulu, a Unesco World Heritage site, Democratic Republic of Congo. Piles of slash are burned to clear the rainforest land for agricultural production at Onane, Democratic Republic of Congo. Men work on a makeshift kiln that produces charcoal out of rainforest wood near Bikoro, Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Democratic Republic of Congo are some of the largest in the world and their preservation or destruction will have a major impact on climate change. DRC rainforest land covers an area that is approximately 335,000 square miles - twice the size of California - and constitutes 8% of all the world's carbon storage. A majority of deforestation in the DRC is caused by loggers and farmers practicing subsistence agriculture.