Congo (DRC)

Wealthy nations must provide more cash to help the impoverished DRC Congo preserve the world’s second biggest tropical forest, its Environment Minister said. Logging and land clearance for farming are eating away the Congo Basin, home to more than a quarter of the world’s tropical forests, at the rate of more than 800,000 hectares a year. Environment Minister Jose Endundu told Reuters he wanted to reduce to 15 million hectares, from 20 million, the land attributed to logging companies, but that rich countries must help offset lost revenues and spur development there. (Reuters)