The Congo Basin Rainforest, the second largest forest in the world, is helping mitigate climate change. A study in the scientific journal, Nature, based on 40-years of data from African forests, suggests that African tropical forests absorb about 1.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere every year – over 5% of fossil fuel emissions. So protecting African Forests could be a way to prevent climate change.

About 15 kilometers outside Gabon’s capital Libreville, a group of scientists are inspecting trees growing in the Mondah forest. Mondah is part of the Congo Basin Rainforest, the second largest forest ecosystem in the world.  

The researchers are working with the country’s Center for Scientific Research and Technology. They are out to prove that these pristine forests store a tremendous amount of carbon and if cut down would release greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, into the air – accelerating global warming

The amount of carbon stored in the trees is calculated using the tree’s diameter, height and species.

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Prince Bissiemou has been studying trees in Gabon for the last three years. He uses special equipment that helps him climb 60 meters off the ground to measure the trees height. “At the beginning one can get scared, but then after a while when you get used to climbing you are not scared anymore but it is still risky because sometimes you are not the only one up there sometimes there is a snake in the tree and if you don’t have the heart – you can end up jumping out,” he says.

After a 40 year, study the researchers recently released findings indicating that African tropical forests, like Mondah, absorb about 1.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere annually, the equivalent of about 5% of global fossil fuel emissions.