evidence: The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), is located in central sub-Saharan Africa, within the Congo Basin. The DRC’s territory straddles the Equator, with one-third of its land area to the north and two-thirds to the south. It is the second largest country in Africa, with a total land area of 2,345,408 km2. The DRC shares borders with the Republic of Congo to the northwest, the Central African Republic to the north, South Sudan to the northeast, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania (Lake Tanganyika) to the east, Zambia to the southeast and Angola to the west. The DRC has a largely equatorial climate; however, this varies across the country’s extensive land area. Generally, the country is hot and humid in the north and west, an area located within a significant portion of the Congo River Basin. The southern, central and eastern areas are generally cooler and drier. The DRC is home to an exceptionally high degree of diversity biomes, ecosystems, and habitats, notably dry rainforests (Muhulu), open woodland forests (Miombo), savannahs, as well as cloud and gallery forests. A large network of protected areas, safeguarding this diversity, covers approximately 8% of the national territory.