Spanning six countries and responsible for nearly half of the world’s oxygen, the Congo Basin is one of the most important and yet vulnerable wilderness areas on the planet. Teeming with gorillas, elephants and buffalo across savannas, swamps and forests, the basin is one of the most biodiverse areas on the planet. Threatened by deforestation, mining and the illegal wildlife trade, environmentalists worry that a significant proportion of the forest’s plants and animals could disappear by 2040.