(EDITIONS MARQUE-PAGES) - The result of a series of trips and reports organized in 2023, *"Discovering the Republic of Congo Along the Waterways"* offers a unique immersion into the forests and natural reserves of the Republic of Congo. The Congo Basin forest, the second green lung of the planet after the Amazon, spans more than two million square kilometers and remains, in many respects, a sanctuary. It is also an underrated treasure, rich in an exceptional biodiversity containing 10% of the known species on Earth, which had never before been the subject of a photography book entirely dedicated to it. This omission has now been corrected with the release of the book on October 17 by Editions Marque-pages, in Paris.

Photographer Thierry Foulon has turned his lens on remarkable sites, such as the Odzala-Kokoua Reserve, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. The journey he invites the reader to embark on is a privilege. These lands of earth and water, irrigated by the powerful Congo River and its many tributaries—such as the Sangha, Oubangui, Likouala, or Alima, to name just a few—are mostly inaccessible by road. Sheltered from human pressure, the forest spreads out in majesty. Under the thick canopy, life thrives. Over the 242 pages of this album, readers will discover the rich populations of lowland gorillas, herds of large elephants, water buffaloes, bongo antelopes, or leopards.

The Republic of Congo has largely been spared from deforestation. Thirteen percent of its territory is classified as protected areas. Its president, Denis Sassou-N'Guesso, long committed to environmental protection, has established himself as a leader in global green diplomacy. Together with his Brazilian counterpart, Luis Ignacio Lula Da Silva, he tirelessly advocates for fair recognition of the role played by forested countries in the Global South in maintaining climate balance. He took it upon himself to write the preface of this book.

Beyond the journey it offers, this book aims to inspire its readers, raise awareness, and serve as a source of inspiration for those who seek to understand and protect nature, balancing respect for living organisms with development challenges. Today, the Congo River Basin forest has become the world's primary carbon sink, sequestering six times more CO2 annually than the Amazon, which has been degraded by uncontrolled human activity. It also houses a unique and fragile peatland ecosystem, resembling swamps—a sanctuary woven from moss and silence, where stagnant waters mingle with green and black mud.

The crucial role of the 165,000 square kilometers of peatlands in the central Congo Basin was only discovered recently. These peatlands could store up to 30 billion tons of carbon dioxide. Climate change is their main threat. If they dry out, it could suddenly release the equivalent of six times the annual emissions of the United States into the atmosphere. This is an issue that should concern us all. This book is both a suspended moment in time, a reflection, and above all a beautiful journey that takes readers on a discovery of a fascinating country of six million people, as large as Germany—the Republic of Congo, formerly known as Congo-Brazzaville, in tribute to the explorer-adventurer Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, who was the first to attempt mapping it...