Cuvette Central Expedition – challenges associated with field work in the DR Congo by Simon Baumgartner (UCL), Dr Travis Drake (ETH) and Prof Matti Barthel (ETH)

Louvain-La-Neuve

March 08, 2021

13 h

The talk will provide a virtual journey to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The DRC is famous for its populations of mountain gorillas and bonobos but also well known for regular Ebola outbreaks and frequent eruptions of violence by militia groups. After more than 5 years of frequent field work across the DRC, we would like to share our experiences of working in one of the last wildernesses of the world. Our consortium is working on a wide range of environmental research topics, ranging from forest ecology and biogeochemistry, landscape dynamics, to agroecology. We will show some impressions of all these activities and talk a bit more in depth about our recent expedition to the swamp forests and rivers of the Cuvette Centrale.

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