Resilience and Sustainability in the Congo Basin Retracing the Past, Looking to the Future

Bila-Isia Inogwabini is a National Geographic and UNESCO Award-Winning Biodiversity Scholar affiliated with the Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala (External Resource) and the School of Management, Catholic University of Congo (Kinshasa). With a 30 year-long experience in Biodiversity Conservation Research, Humanitarian and Sustainable Development Programs, Inogwabini published multiple dozens of peer-reviewed articles and books. He is currently Science Officer for the Science Panel for the Congo Basin.

Bonaventure Sonké is Professor of biodiversity of African rainforests and a plant taxonomist based at the University of Yaoundé 1, Cameroon. He has been working on the dynamics of forest in Central Africa for more than 35 years during which he described more than 70 new species to science; he co-authored over 140 publications in international peer-reviewed journals. He is also one of the three Co-Chairs for the Science Panel for the Congo Basin.

Lydie-Stella Koutika is a soil scientist with over 30 years of experience in applied research on agroecosystems in South America, Europe, and Africa. She has authored numerous papers on soil management, carbon and nitrogen dynamics. Over the past decade, her work has focused on improving and expanding soil knowledge in Central Africa to address climate change, land degradation, food insecurity, and biodiversity loss—contributing significantly to the scientific community and the livelihoods of local farmers. She is one of the three co-chairs for the Science Panel for the Congo Basin and an editor-in-chief of this report.

Lee JT White,  CBE  is an honorary professor at the  University of Stirling (UK). He has over 40 years of experience in the tropical rain forests of Africa; he was director of Gabon’s National Parks Agency and Gabon’s Minister of Water, Forests, Sea and Environment. He publishes widely on the natural history and ecology of the African rain forests and has 125 publications. He is the Special Envoy of the Science Panel for the Congo Basin and an editor-in-chief of this report.