Vanessa is an advocate for the Congo Basin Rainforest, home to the second largest tropical rainforest in the world, after the Amazon. The vast landscape spans across six Central African countries and nearly 150 distinct ethnic groups inhabit this rainforest. The regionʼs BaʼAka people are among the most well known representatives of an ancient hunter-gatherer lifestyle.

Their lives and wellbeing are linked intimately with the forest. Most people in the Congo Basin remain heavily dependent on the forest for subsistence and raw materials, as a complement to agricultural activities. As populations rise, pressure on forests continues to increase. The rainforest risks being left in a fragmented and severely degraded state due to the growing threat of deforestation carried out to clear the way for small-holder cultivation and illegal logging. If the current trends hold, experts warn that the entire forest will be gone by the end of the century. The Congo Basin Rainforest – Central Africa.