The Democratic Republic of Congo has approximately 25% of the world’s remaining rainforests. In contrast to neighbouring countries, very little commercial exploitation has occurred in its 1.3 million square kilometres of forest (an area twice the size of France) as a result of the limited road infrastructure and years of debilitating conflict. However, now relative stability has returned to Congo and with the restoration of democracy, international logging companies are lining up to commercially exploit this valuable resource.  At the same time the international community is now recognising the value to the global climate of preserving the forests and the need to pay countries such as the DRC not to cut them down.