Anthropogenic Plant Biodiversity in the Dense Forests of CAR

The dense forests of the Congo Basin are considered a hotspot of global biodiversity due to their supposedly primary character. Yet these forests remain among the most poorly understood in the world and at the same time among the most threatened. These threats affect not only the forests themselves and the species they contain but also the indigenous societies (mainly Pygmies) and their traditional knowledge. Against this backdrop we have set up a research project to gain a better understanding of human-forest relations and their consequences for plant biodiversity on an ecosystem scale in an area of dense semi-deciduous forest in the Central African Republic.