October 2021 — July 2022
ABSL Dialogues, Lubumbashi, June 24 — July 28, 2022
Virunga National Park, Beni, May 21 — June 4, 2022
French Institute Goma, January 28 — March 19, 2022
Ville de Paris, grilles de la Tour Saint-Jacques, October 5 — November 15, 2021
In September 2021, Guerchom Ndebo documented the different prisms of deforestation in this region, following on from his report on insecurity and the coal trade for Congo in Conversation.
This exhibition, made possible thanks to the Initiative of the Ville de Paris for the preservation of the forests of Central Africa, was first shown in Paris at the garden of the Tour Saint-Jacques, before continuing its itinerary in three Congolese cities: Goma, Beni and Lubumbashi, with the support of local partners.
The fourth largest forest country in the world and second only to Brazil in terms of primary rainforests, the Democratic Republic of Congo is today home to 155 million hectares of tropical forest, or two-thirds of its surface area and more than half of the immense forest of the Congo Basin, which covers six African countries. In twenty years, the DRC has seen the disappearance of more than 5 million hectares of forest cover and an unknown number of species in one of the last reserves of plant and animal biodiversity on the planet.
According to Greenpeace projections, it could even lose 40% of its forests by 2050. Among the country's nine national parks, two are currently the focus of ecological and climatic threats, as well as military, economic, health, demographic and social threats facing one of the poorest countries in the world. These are Virunga and Kahuzi-Biega national parks in the Kivu region of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
OUR PARTNER INSTITUTIONS
in Lubumbashi : ASBL Dialogues
The origins of the ASBL Dialogues go back to 1998. This Congolese structure has as main objective the promotion of culture and plastic arts in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In addition to supporting the city's museum, it actively contributes to the artistic development of many Congolese artists, seeking to involve them and to encourage their own artistic expression. Its contemporary art gallery, located in the National Museum of Lubumbashi, is entirely financed by the Forrest International Group. It opens its doors to visual artists of the DRC. But also to all other forms of Art.
http://www.galeriedialogues.org
À Béni : Parc national des Virunga
Founded in 1925, Virunga National Park is the most biodiverse protected area in Africa, home to more than 200 types of mammal. The number of bird species found in Virunga is greater than the total number found in the United States. Located at the eastern end of the Congo Basin, the second largest tropical forest in the world, Virunga is known as the park of fire and ice for its diverse habitats ranging from the Rwenzori peaks to savannah and volcanic plains.
https://virunga.org
À Goma : Institut Français
https://institutfrancaisgoma.org