# Struggles of the world’s ‘second lung’ put one of the most beloved crops at risk
## Lower rainfall threatens the wider belt producing three-quarters of cocoa, study says
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> It is not only the Amazon rainforest, at the epicentre of UN climate talks this week, being disrupted by human activity. The degradation of the vast Congo Basin, known as the world’s “second lung”, is taking a toll across the African continent and threatening one of the world’s most traded and beloved crops: cocoa.
> Stretching across six Central African countries, the world’s second-largest tropical rainforest is a critical carbon sink. It shapes weather patterns as far away as Ivory Coast, a distance greater than that from Dublin to Moscow.
> The Congo has drawn fresh funding during the COP30 summit, as France aims to raise $2.5bn to deal with the ramifications of deforestation being felt far beyond the local ecosystems to a wide belt of neighbouring nations.
> As trees in the basin are being felled at an accelerating pace, rainfall farther away in West Africa is already being severely affected, according to a study by Zero Carbon Analytics.
randommathaccount on
Very concerning stuff for Africa which is already very exposed to climate risk. Potentially Congo’s mineral wealth could come in handy if it can provide employment to it’s citizens without needing agriculture. Still effort needs to be taken in finding pathways for development without needing ecological destruction which will cause massive harms in the longer term. Also bad time for chocolate fans as prices rise but this was an inevitability tbh.
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# Struggles of the world’s ‘second lung’ put one of the most beloved crops at risk
## Lower rainfall threatens the wider belt producing three-quarters of cocoa, study says
—
> It is not only the Amazon rainforest, at the epicentre of UN climate talks this week, being disrupted by human activity. The degradation of the vast Congo Basin, known as the world’s “second lung”, is taking a toll across the African continent and threatening one of the world’s most traded and beloved crops: cocoa.
> Stretching across six Central African countries, the world’s second-largest tropical rainforest is a critical carbon sink. It shapes weather patterns as far away as Ivory Coast, a distance greater than that from Dublin to Moscow.
> The Congo has drawn fresh funding during the COP30 summit, as France aims to raise $2.5bn to deal with the ramifications of deforestation being felt far beyond the local ecosystems to a wide belt of neighbouring nations.
> As trees in the basin are being felled at an accelerating pace, rainfall farther away in West Africa is already being severely affected, according to a study by Zero Carbon Analytics.
Very concerning stuff for Africa which is already very exposed to climate risk. Potentially Congo’s mineral wealth could come in handy if it can provide employment to it’s citizens without needing agriculture. Still effort needs to be taken in finding pathways for development without needing ecological destruction which will cause massive harms in the longer term. Also bad time for chocolate fans as prices rise but this was an inevitability tbh.
!ping ECO