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Congo River Basin

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Abstract

The Congo River is the second only to the Amazon in terms of size and freshwater species diversity. The basin covers 4 million km2. The basin has over 1200 fish species, 400 mammal species, 1,000 bird species and over 10,000 vascular plant species. It provides about 30 % of Africa’s freshwater resources, and about 77 million people living in the Congo basin rely on them. The basin has remained relatively undeveloped compared to other basins in Africa, but increased political stability is allowing development, with loss of riparian habitat through deforestation, and reduction of water quality through pollution and sedimentation being some of the main threats to the freshwater ecosystems. Effective environmental planning is essential to ensure that resources are managed wisely and the ecosystems that provide them are adequately protected. Additional surveying and monitoring of biodiversity throughout the basin is required. It will also be important to designate additional protected areas with a focus on freshwaters.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Environment and Peace, Conservation International, 2011 Crystal Drive, Suite 500, Arlington, VA, 22202, USA

    Ian J. Harrison

  2. Environment and Natural Resources Department, World Bank, Washington, DC, USA

    Randall Brummett

  3. Division of Vertebrate Zoology, Ichthyology Department, American Museum of Natural History, New York City, USA

    Melanie L. J. Stiassny

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  1. Ian J. Harrison
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  2. Randall Brummett
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  3. Melanie L. J. Stiassny
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Correspondence to Ian J. Harrison .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Ecology and Biodiversity, Charles Sturt University Inst. for Land, Water and Society, Albury, New South Wales, Australia

    C. Max Finlayson

  2. Dept. of Natural Resources, Wildlife Resources, Kentville, Nova Scotia, Canada

    G. Randy Milton

  3. Nature Management Services, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia

    R. Crawford Prentice

  4. Charles Sturt University, Albury, New South Wales, Australia

    Nick C. Davidson

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Harrison, I.J., Brummett, R., Stiassny, M.L.J. (2016). Congo River Basin. In: Finlayson, C., Milton, G., Prentice, R., Davidson, N. (eds) The Wetland Book. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6173-5_92-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6173-5_92-2

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  • Online ISBN: 978-94-007-6173-5

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  1. Latest

    Congo River Basin
    Published:
    22 November 2016

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6173-5_92-2

  2. Original

    The Congo River Basin
    Published:
    01 August 2016

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6173-5_92-1

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