The rainforests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo contain great biodiversi

ty, including many rare and endemicspecies, such as the common chimpanzee and th
e bonobo, the African forest elephant, mountain gorilla, okapi and white rhino.
Five of the country's national parks are listed as World Heritage Sites: the Gar
umba, Kahuzi-Biega, Salonga andVirunga National Parks, and the Okapi Wildlife Re
serve. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is the most biodiverse African count
ry.[51]
The civil war and resultant poor economic conditions have endangered much of thi
s biodiversity. Many park wardens were either killed or could not afford to cont
inue their work. All five sites are listed by UNESCO as World Heritage in Danger
. Over the past century or so, the DRC has developed into the center of what has
been called the Central African "bushmeat" problem, which is regarded by many a
s a major environmental as well as socio-economic crisis. "Bushmeat" is another
word for the meat of wild animals. It is typically obtained through trapping, us
ually with wire snares, or otherwise with shotguns, poisoned arrows or arms orig
inally intended for use in the DRC's numerous military conflicts.[citation neede
d]

Bas-Congolandscape

A male Western gorilla

Hippopotamus

The African forest elephant

The bushmeat crisis has emerged in the DRC mainly as a result of the poor living
conditions of the Congolese people and a lack of education about the dangers of
eating it. A rising population combined with deplorable economic conditions has
forced many Congolese to become dependent on bushmeat, either as a means of acq
uiring income (hunting the meat and selling), or are dependent on it for food. U
nemployment and urbanization throughout Central Africa have exacerbated the prob
lem further by turning cities like the urban sprawl of Kinshasa into the prime m
arket for commercial bushmeat.[citation needed]
This combination has caused not only widespread endangerment of local fauna, but
has forced humans to trudge deeper into the wilderness in search of the desired
animal meat. This overhunting results in the deaths of more animals and makes r
esources even more scarce for humans. The hunting has also been facilitated by t
he extensive logging prevalent throughout the Congo's rainforests (from corporat
e logging, in addition to farmers clearing out forest for agriculture), which al
lows hunters much easier access to previously unreachable jungle terrain, while
simultaneously eroding away at the habitats of animals.[52] Deforestation is acc
elerating in Central Africa.[53]
A case that has particularly alarmed conservationists is that of primates. The C
ongo is inhabited by several great apespecies the common chimpanzee (Pan troglody
tes), the bonobo (Pan paniscus), the eastern gorilla (Gorilla beringei), and pos
sibly the western gorilla (Gorilla gorilla).[54] It is the only country in the w
orld in which bonobos are found in the wild. Much concern has been raised about
great ape extinction. Because of hunting and habitat destruction, the chimpanzee
, the bonobo and the gorilla, each of whose population once numbered in the mill
ions, have now dwindled down to only about 200,000[55] gorillas, 100,000[56] chi
mpanzees and possibly only about 10,000[56] bonobos. Gorillas, chimpanzees, and
bonobos are all classified as Endangered by the World Conservation Union, as wel
l as the okapi, which is also native to the area geography.