Largest tropical peatland

Covering an area of approximately 145,500 square kilometres (56,180 square miles) – more than double the size of Ireland – the Cuvette Centrale peatlands are the largest of their kind located in the tropics. The peatland complex sits in the Congo Basin, spanning across two countries: the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo. It's estimated that these swamps contain around 30 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide – or 20 years' worth of current fossil-fuel emissions in the USA – making them one of the most carbon-rich habitats on the planet.

Peat is an organic wetland soil made from semi-decomposed plant matter, more often found in colder climes, such as Russia, northern Europe and Canada.

Radiocarbon dating indicates that peat started forming in this region around 10,600 years ago.

Given their remote location, the peatlands were only discovered by scientists in 2012, but it took several years of study before their full extent could be calculated. A map of the Cuvette Centrale produced with satellite data was created for a paper published in the journal Nature on 11 January 2017. The research was a collaboration between the University of Leeds, University College London, the University of St Andrews, the University of Edinburgh, the University of Leicester (all UK) and the Marien Ngouabi University (Republic of Congo), led by Dr Greta Dargie and Professor Simon Lewis of the University of Leeds and University College London.