Aerial photo showing the Congo River and the surrounding swamp forest in area between Mbandaka and Kinshasa. The Congo River and its tributaries flow through the second largest rainforest area in the world. Expansion of logging into remaining areas of intact forests in the Democratic Republic of the Congo will destroy globally critical carbon reserves and impact biodiversity. Approximately 40 million people in the DRC depend on the rainforest for their basic needs, such as medicine, food or shelter.