Congo Basin Forest Atlases

The Congo Basin Forest Atlases are a living forest information system, merging the latest technology in remote sensing and GIS with ground-truthing to monitor and sustainably manage forests. WRI works in the following Congo Basin countries: Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon.

Through a combination of interactive mapping applications, posters, analytical reports, trainings, and outreach, the Atlases provide users with timely, accurate, and synchronized information about land use allocation (forest concessions, protected areas, mining permits etc.) within national forest estates. The goal of this work is to improve the quality and availability of information in the forest sector to support transparent and participatory decision-making across the Congo Basin.

The first Forest Atlas was released in 2005 for Cameroon, and since then Atlases have been developed for all of the countries in the Congo Basin. These Atlases are the product of a partnership between the World Resources Institute and national governments, in collaboration with the private sector, international donor agencies, and civil society groups.

Photo Credit: CIFOR/Flickr.