Banking on a solution

ALL SYSTEMS FLOW FOR PIONEERING RIVER INITIATIVE

On Monday 2nd June 2025, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Council approved a pioneering cross-border initiative, with US$8.7million of their own funding and an additional $67 million in co-financing, for the Ubangi, the largest right-bank tributary of the Congo River and a globally important ecosystem.

The project will unite the Central African Republic (CAR) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in addressing climate threats, protecting biodiversity, and support the millions of people who depend on the Ubangi River Basin for their livelihoods.

One of Africa's most ecologically vital and economically significant waterways, flowing over 2,270km through the CAR, DRC and Republic of Congo, the Ubangi River basin forms a key part of the Congo River system. This is the world's second-largest river basin and home to more than 1,000 fish species, 10,000 plant species, and 2,500 animal species. Among these are many threatened or endemic species, including two-thirds of all primates on the African continent who are under pressure from deforestation and land-clearing.

According to the IUCN, over the past 30 years, changes in rainfall patterns have progressively decreased water levels and reduced runoff in the Ubangi River by up to 18%. "Coupled with riverbank erosion, this further accentuated the siltation of the river, which is not only detrimental to biodiversity but also cripples navigation, limits trade and restricts access to residential areas." The river has also been facing further escalating threats from human activity such as mining, pollution, agricultural expansion and destruction of sensitive habitats and the Ubangi's role as a regulator of regional and global climates will be addressed by the new GEF initiative.

As a shared resource, the project aims to create joint monitoring, co-ordination and decision-making initiatives between the CAR and DRC and provide training and capacity building so they can move forward together to combat biodiversity loss and carry out nature based solutions to help humans and wildlife alike.