12 April- 12 May: Photo exhibition "The Congo Forest, The Planet’s Last Green Lung"

This exhibition, produced by the Sciences Po Library in partnership with the Maison des Arts et de la Création, is part of the Library's Forests Cycle. It invites visitors to discover the fauna, flora and inhabitants of the Congolese forest, to better understand the local and global issues involved in preserving it. 

The Congo Basin forest, which extends over 6 countries in Central Africa, is the last tropical forest to absorb CO². It therefore plays a vital role in climate regulation. But this unique ecosystem is threatened on two fronts: on the one hand by population growth, which is forcing its inhabitants to eat more and more of the forest in order to survive, and on the other by the revival of industrial logging.

How do people live in this forest today? What are the living conditions and future prospects for its inhabitants? What solutions are being considered to protect it? 

From mid-August to the end of October 2023, photographer  Gwenn Dubourthoumieu and travel writer Guillaume Jan traveled through this forest. A trip of 10 weeks and more than 4,000 km designed to alert the general public to the threats facing this forest and the urgent need to preserve it.

Gwenn Dubourthoumieu is an international award-winning photographer who has worked in Africa for humanitarian NGOs and continued his commitment as a photographer. His committed documentary work on social and human rights issues has been widely published in the French and international media. His work on the social impact of the exploitation of copper in the DRC is part of the permanent collection of the Library of Congress in the United States. 

Exhibition from 12 April to 12 May, Saint-Thomas campus (1 place Saint-Thomas d’Aquin), room B104 (accessible from the main staircase).

Free admission (registration required for externals)

Guided tours of the exhibition by Sciences Po students.

Other events in the Forests cycle:

• Conference on forests on Tuesday 23 April at 12pm in the Library lobby with PhD student Charlotte Glinel (Center for the Sociology of Organisation), novelist Clara Arnaud and photographer Gwenn Dubourthoumieu. Discussion moderated by Ninon Vandebeulque, student on a double degree BASc "environment and sustainable societies" and member of Sciences Po Environnement. Register.
• Thematic selection on forests from Monday 15 April

Contact (for exhibition): delphine.lereculeur@sciencespo.fr