Introduced by the Research Institute on Tropical Ecology (IRET), in partnership with the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), this scientific project would allow a reliable estimation of carbon stocks in the forests of the Congo Basin, 2nd ecological lung of the planet, after the Amazonia, extending over 228 million hectares (26 % of the rain forests of the world), including Congo, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Democratic Republic of the Congo (RDC) and Gabon.

Financed at thirteen million US dollars for the set of the countries of the sub-region, and put into operation by the Forests of Central Africa Commission (COMIFAC) and the Gabonese Ministry of Waters and Forests, this project answers the recommendations of the UN annual Conference on the climate change (COP20), held in Lima (Peru) last December, 2014.

The IRET Director, Alfred Ngomanda, explained that the project aims to "develop an arithmetical equation making the link between the size of a tree, its diameter and its height, and have the quantity of carbon contained in the wood".

The studies are led in the forest concession under sustainable arrangement of the forest company Rougier Gabon, operating in the zone of the Crystal mount in the northwest of Libreville, indicated Mr Ngomanda, adding that the works should result in a better management of forests.

Arsene REBOUKA