Nature-Based Solutions in the Congo Basin

Abstract Nature-based approaches have the potential to address challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, flood and drought mitigation, land and soil restoration, and to sustain agricultural productivity, including maintaining pollinators, and regulation of pests and diseases. Case studies from the Congo Basin with the potential to scale up across countries to support efforts being invested in other parts are presented. This chapter highlights the role of local, indigenous, and endogenous knowledge in addressing some of the most intractable current ecological, economic, and social challenges. Although engaging local communities directly is sometimes difficult, their knowledge remains highly valuable. Building trust between the scientific and indigenous communities is crucial to scaling up the contributions of traditional knowledge in evaluating the impact of various nature-based solutions (NbS) across different biomes in the Congo Basin. To support its argument about how science can contribute to sound decision-making processes, we demonstrate in this chapter how NbS can generate non-climate benefits, including biodiversity conservation, which contribute to climate benefits (global cooling, rainfall pattern), food security, water quality improvement, better water penetration into soil, food for livestock, and fuel wood energy supply. We also show how NbS help countries contribute to international commitments, such as the Paris Agreement, 4 per 1000 Initiative “soils for food security and climate,” the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and the Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).