When people talk about the world’s forests, the conversation often gravitates to the Amazon or Southeast Asia. Yet quietly and critically, the Congo Basin has been holding the line. It is the world’s second largest rainforest, home to extraordinary biodiversity and tens of millions of people whose lives and livelihoods are intertwined with forests. Despite its global importance, the region has historically received a fraction of the finance and attention directed elsewhere.

That imbalance is one of the reasons Partnerships for Forests (P4F) is expanding its work into Central Africa.

The programme’s recent launch in the Congo Basin marks more than a geographic expansion. It represents a deliberate shift in strategy — one that recognises both the urgency and the opportunity of this moment for forests, people, and markets.

A Region at a Crossroads

The Congo Basin contains around 70% of Africa’s forest cover and plays a vital role in regulating climate, storing carbon, and sustaining regional economies.

At the same time, pressures on forests are increasing. Small-scale agriculture, fuelwood and charcoal production, weak market access, and limited investment options for local enterprises are driving forest loss — not because communities are indifferent to or don’t value forests, but because viable alternatives are often out of reach.

What makes Central Africa different is not just the scale of its forests, but the structure of its economies. Many forest friendly businesses here are early stage, community-led or informal. They operate in fragile contexts, face barriers to finance and certification, and struggle to connect to regional and global markets. Yet these same enterprises, from cocoa and coffee to non-timber forest products and sustainable fuelwood, are essential to any long-term solution.

The same approaches we used to successfully catalyse more than GBP 1 billion into forest friendly business models across the first phase of the programme will be put to use here and tailored for the local context.

Roland Muhima, the Team Leader for P4F in the region, explains that in the Congo Basin, this approach is particularly relevant because many of the barriers to forest-friendly growth are not technical, but systemic. “What became clear during the launch is that there is no single solution. Instead, there is a growing ecosystem of locally grounded models — from blended finance and mobile money solutions to community-based approaches building on emerging communal land tenure systems — that, if better connected and structured, can unlock investment while strengthening safeguards,” he says.

“P4F’s experience in convening actors across finance, policy and markets positions the programme well to help translate these emerging ideas into investable, scalable pathways adapted to local realities.”

From Projects to Systems

P4F has always focused on catalysing forest friendly business models. In Central Africa, the team is applying that experience with a sharper systems lens.

Rather than focusing on individual projects alone, P4F’s strategy looks at how entire market systems function and where they break down. That means working simultaneously with grassroots enterprises, small and medium sized businesses, large corporates, investors, and policymakers. It also means addressing the enabling conditions that too often sit in the background: land rights, governance, access to appropriate finance, and data and traceability systems.

In practical terms, the work in Central Africa will focus on six priority sectors — cocoa, coffee, oil palm, non-timber forest products, fuelwood and charcoal, and carbon and biodiversity credits — where the potential for inclusive, forest positive growth is high.

Why Now?

There is a growing global recognition that climate and nature goals cannot be met without the Congo Basin. At the same time, demand for deforestation free products, traceability and credible carbon and biodiversity outcomes is rising.

For Central Africa, this creates a narrow but real window: to leapfrog towards forest friendly development models or risk repeating extractive patterns seen elsewhere.

The expansion builds on lessons from earlier phases of our work across Africa and other tropical regions. One clear insight stands out: forests are protected most effectively when local people and businesses see tangible economic value in keeping them standing. Investment, when designed well, can be a powerful tool for conservation.

Looking Ahead

Launching in the Congo Basin is both an opportunity and a responsibility. Success will depend on strong partnerships with governments, local organisations, investors, and communities themselves. It will require patience, humility and a willingness to learn from the region.

The Congo Basin is often described as the world’s “last great rainforest.” That framing can feel distant and abstract. “For us, this launch is about something more immediate: backing practical, investable solutions that allow forests and people to thrive together. Central Africa deserves nothing less,” adds Muhima.

What is particularly compelling about Central Africa is the opportunity to work at a formative moment. Many forest-friendly markets are still emerging, governance systems are evolving, and there is space to shape pathways before unsustainable models become entrenched.

The region also offers a unique opportunity to link project-level implementation with learning at system level. The launch discussions reinforced the value of aligning closely with other programme components and external partners to capture lessons from implementation, test assumptions, and feed insights back into programme design. This learning-oriented approach — grounded in local realities and shared across actors — is central to how P4F intends to work in the Congo Basin.

Together, these insights point to the importance of sustained engagement, learning and partnership if forest-friendy markets in Central Africa are to move from promise to scale.