Lesson video

Hi there.

I'm Ms. Roberts, and this is a geography lesson from our unit of work all about the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

We are investigating the opportunities as well as the challenges that are faced by that country.

In this lesson today, we are exploring the climate and the biomes that we can find in the DRC.

By the end of the lesson today, you will be able to describe what the climate is and what the major biomes of the DRC are.

In order to be able to do that, you're going to need some terminology.

So let's have a look at our keywords for today's lesson.

You have heard our first keyword today already, and that is biome.

Bio is to do with life, isn't it? To do with living things.

And a biome is a very large region of the world, and within that region, the places share a very similar climate and the vegetation and all of the animals that have adapted to living there are shared in that place.

So that's one biome, for example, a rainforest.

Next we have equatorial climate.

Now this is the climate of the DRC, and this can be described as a climate that has very high temperatures all the time, consistently high.

Along with that, consistently high temperature is consistent rainfall.

It rains and rains and rains all the time.

It may or may not include a very, very short dry season, and this type of climate is only found in locations that are on or near the equator.

It's exclusive to that area.

We can't find this climate anywhere else, which is why it's called equatorial.

The next two keywords are both types of biomes.

We have the savanna, which is a grassland biome that has some scattered trees, some shrubs, and this is also found in locations that are near the equator.

And then secondly, we have wetlands.

There are a wide range of different types of wetlands, but the key thing about a wetland biome is that all of the land within it is either permanently flooded or permanently saturated, meaning wet.

Okay? And so, and this is a type of land that's very, very wet.

We're not talking about rivers or lakes or seas here.

This is a biome and it's saturated land.

Today's lesson has got two parts.

First of all, we need to investigate what the climate of the DRC is and what the biomes are.

So we're going to do that in the first half of the lesson.

In the second half of the lesson, we're going to think some more about the effects that that climate has in the DRC.

So let's begin now by exploring the climate and biomes in some more detail.

The DRC is the second largest country in Africa.

I have put a circle around it there.

There are 13 countries in the world that sit on the equator.

You can see the equator there running through the north of the DRC.

Now, I'm not going to name the other 12 countries, but maybe after this lesson you could go and find out what they are.

Due to this equatorial position being sat where it is with the equator running through it, the DRC is a location on Earth that experiences the equatorial climate.

This means that in this climate zone, the weather patterns are the same all year round.

There's no different seasons.

There's no spring, summer, autumn, winter, and in the equatorial climate there is frequent heavy rainfall.

If you look at this picture here, we can see some beautiful lush green trees, but what we can see even more is teams of rain coming down almost like sheets of water there.

This heavy rainfall is frequent in the DRC and it's accompanied by very high temperatures, which means the DRC is a very humid country.

So where do these high temperatures in the equatorial climate come from? We can actually explain these in a very scientific way.

Let's take a look at the diagram here.

We know that we live on planet Earth, which has this curved shape.

The rays of sun come as straight lines from the sun to the Earth.

They have to travel further to reach places that are further away from the equator, and when they reach those places, the sun's rays spread out across a greater area.

Rays of light that come straight from the sun to the equator travel a shorter distance, and because of the curvature of the Earth when they hit the equator and the land surrounding it, those rays of light have to focus on a smaller area.

That's what creates this equatorial climate.

You can see the yellow at the top there that shows you how the heat from the sun, the solar radiation, is spread over a greater area nearer to the poles, whereas at the equator here in the middle, the solar radiation is more concentrated in a smaller area.

You've had a lot to take on board already in this lesson, so take a minute now to have a think about what you know and try to use that to complete the blanks in this sentence.

Pause the video, have a read, have a think.

You might want to look back on some of the previous slides.

And then when you are ready, I will take you through the correct answers.

Okay, let's have a look together.

The DRC is located in the continent of Africa.

Well done.

It lies on the equator, and that means it experiences an equatorial climate with heavy rain and high temperatures.

Well done.

Here's a map of the DRC and this map has been shaded to show you the locations roughly of where the different biomes in the DRC are.

There are several different biomes present in the DRC.

We have rainforests.

We have some dense forests that are found in the east, but they're much, much smaller than the rainforest.

We have wetlands as well.

We can see some areas of wetlands there, and we have areas of savanna.

In addition, in the south of the DRC, you can see some other grasslands.

These are very tall, more luscious grasslands, and these are not savanna, although they have some similarities.

Tropical rainforests are the largest biome in the DRC.

Tropical rainforests are only found in countries that lie on the equator, so we are starting to make some connections here now, aren't we? The DRC lies on the equator.

The equatorial climate only happens in places that are near the equator.

The tropical rainforests only grow in places that lie on or near the equator.

I've labelled those places where the rainforests are found here on the map.

We can find areas of tropical rainforest in Oceania, Asia, Africa, and South and North America as well.

Have a look at the picture there.

This is an aerial view of some tropical rainforests in the DRC.

It's so dense that we can't see any land between any of those trees.

It's a dense blanket of trees.

What we can't see here is that below this dense canopy of trees that we see, beneath there, the rainforest is teeming with huge varieties of other plants.

There are long twisted vines curling their way up those tall trees.

There are tropical plants and flowers growing.

There are millions of animals, birds, insects, from teeny tiny tree frogs that we find only in rainforests to great gorillas, is all waiting there beneath that dense canopy of trees we can see in the picture.

The trees themselves are also seen as a natural resource, and that's for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, because they are hardwoods, and those hardwood like mahogany can be turned into furniture, so they are very valuable for the wood that they produce.

Rainforest trees are also a natural source of rubber.

Rubber is found inside under the bark of rainforest trees, and many people in the DRC also use rainforest trees for fuel wood as well.

Right, thinking about tropical rainforests then.

Is it true or false to say that tropical rainforests are only found in the DRC? This is false.

Can you tell me why? It's because tropical rainforests are located in places that have an equatorial climate, so that means they are found in places along the equator, and we know that there are 13 countries in the world that lie on the equator.

So rainforests, tropical rainforests are not only found in the DRC but in those other countries as well.

After the rainforest, the next largest biome of the DRC is the savanna.

Now look at this map and you will see that there are areas of savanna above and below the rainforest.

It's a bit like a rainforest sandwich.

We have rainforest in the middle and then two slices of bread, which are the savanna biome.

There is a striking difference between the landscapes of the rainforest and the savanna.

It is very easy to tell when we are in one biome and not the other.

You can see areas in these pictures.

The savanna area is much drier than the rainforest.

There is no longer this huge dense blanket of trees.

Instead, we have lots of scattered, very hard grasses, shrubs, some trees, but certainly not as tall as the rainforest trees.

And within this area we can see the wildlife around us changing.

Animals that live in the savanna are animals that predominantly like to graze and can move around freely.

Zebras and antelopes, we can find them in savannas, as well as other species, like this beautiful, gracious ostrich we can see in the top photo here.

The bottom photo shows a type of farming activity that often happens in savanna areas, not only in the DRC, but in other nations that have areas of savanna.

This is nomadic farming, particularly here with goats.

Nomadic farming is where farmers take their animals and roam around the country with them, usually looking for places where their animals can feed and drink.

We have goat herding predominantly happening here in the DRC because goats can be used for both meat and milk.

Isn't it interesting to see how the landscape can change so dramatically within one country? Let's stop and try a multiple choice question now.

There are four statements here.

I would like you to decide which is true.

Pause the video to read the statements and make your decision, and then I will let you know which is the correct answer.

Have you decided? Bit tricky this one, wasn't it? But if you remember that savanna sandwich, then you will have got the correct answer D.

The savanna is located either side of the tropical rainforest.

The third biome of the DRC that we are looking at today is the wetlands.

We can see here, see the purple lines pointing to some specific areas of wetlands in the DRC there.

These areas particularly are areas that are swamps or marshes.

They are located in the northwest of the DRC and in the southeast as well.

Let's look at them in some more detail now.

Now here we can see a very happy animal.

Do we know what this animal is? It's a hippopotamus, a very happy hippopotamus I would say, judging from the mud bath that it's been having.

The wetlands of the DRC, they are still very warm places.

We've still got the influence of this equatorial climate happening.

They're very warm and because the land is saturated, they are very muddy.

And so big beasts like these hippopotamuses, they love it because they can cool themselves down by having a nice bath in the mud.

The areas of wetlands in the DRC are large and they are important because they are teeming with wildlife, not just these big beasts, but some important plants and other animals, and even species of trees like mangroves.

Mangrove swamps are located in the southwest of the DRC, and mangroves, sometimes called mangrove forests, they are some of the world's largest carbon sinks.

What do we mean by that? Well, we have many issues today relating to the amount of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere.

This is contributing to the enhanced greenhouse effect and causing climate change.

Carbon sinks help to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

So trees take in carbon dioxide.

That's what we mean.

Mangrove trees remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and they are called carbon sinks.

So preserving them and protecting them is really quite important, and that's why three areas of wetlands in the DRC are actually protected, and they have been made into national parks or reserves.

You've heard a lot about the biomes of the DRC, so here are three photographs of three different biomes.

What I want you to do is name the biome from each photograph, please.

Have you got them? Let's see.

A, we have another happy hippo there.

That is the wetland.

Then we have an ostrich roaming in the savanna, and then we have a type of monkey, and he is swinging on a tree in the rainforest.

Well done.

Now let's take an activity together about these biomes.

You can see the table there.

I would like you to fill each section of the table with some notes about each biome.

Can you include please details about what the biome is like? Tell me what it's like there.

What wildlife might I see there, and what are the opportunities or challenges that that biome presents for the people? You can use everything you know so far from this lesson.

You may wish to use the internet or books for further research, but be sure to make sure that you use trustworthy sources of information.

Pause the video, and then when you are ready, I will share some examples with you.

Okay, are we ready? Lovely.

Let's first of all, look at the rainforest.

Rainforests are the biggest biome of the DRC, located mostly in the centre and northern parts of the country.

They are dense forests of tall trees and tropical plants.

Millions of species of animals, birds, and plants live in rainforests, including gorillas and monkeys.

The rainforest provides opportunities to generate income.

Trees are a natural resource because hardwoods can be used to make furniture.

Moving on to the savanna next, the savanna biome is a large region that's covered in some scattered trees, shrubs and tall grasses.

They do cover large areas of the DRC and are found either side of the area of tropical rainforest.

Roaming animals like zebra and antelope live in the savanna, and they graze on those bushes and the grasses.

There is an opportunity in the savanna for farmers like goat herders who move their animals to different areas to feed around the savanna.

Finally, in the wetlands, the wetlands are big swamps or marshes.

The wet conditions there are good for animals like hippos that love the mud.

Trees like mangroves thrive there in the muddy waters.

The mangroves of the DRC are found in the southwest of the country at the mouth of the Congo River.

Those areas of mangrove swamps are important to humans because they store lots of carbon.

Were your ideas similar? Great job.

So it's time now to look at the second part of the lesson.

We've heard all about what the climate is, and we know what the biomes are like.

So let's look now at what the effects of that climate is in the DRC.

We know about the equatorial climate.

There's very little variation in this climate.

It's the same climate all year round.

That's because the DRC is located on the equator, and that's never going to change.

There are torrential downpours of rain very frequently across the country.

This is a precipitation map of the DRC.

The blue area, as we can see by the key, areas that are blue experience the most precipitation every year.

And we can clearly see that most of the DRC there is blue.

The temperatures are hot, especially in the rainforest, which is roughly the area I have put there in that rectangle, and the savanna regions either side of the rainforest are drier areas, but it's still humid there, and that helps to support the biodiversity, all those wonderful animals that we saw earlier.

Now the whole of this map, this is a map of average temperature.

There's very little variation in this whole area, this whole region of Africa.

We can see everywhere is this yellow, yellow colour, which is right up on the highest end of the temperature scale.

Look at this physical map now of the DRC here.

We can see the Congo River there winding its way in an arch shape through the middle.

Now we know that a lot of the area of the DRC is covered in rainforests.

We know that lots more of it is then covered in savanna or in wetlands.

The DRC also has a very small but nonetheless significant area of coast.

We can see it just there in the west.

I've got a green line pointing to it on the map.

The area of coast there has exactly the same climate as anywhere else.

There's no difference in the coastal climate compared to the climate of other areas.

There are, however, in the east some climatic differences in the highland areas.

These are areas where there are some hills and mountains.

In fact, there are volcanoes in this area, because it's part of the African Rift Valley.

In this area where there are highlands, temperatures do get a little bit cooler, and there is slightly less humidity as well.

So that's the climate in a nutshell that is experienced by the people of the DRC.

Multiple choice question now, before we move on.

Which of these natural environments are found in the DRC? Ready? Have you chosen more than one? I think there's more than one too.

The DRC does have coast.

It's a small section of coast, but it's there.

And there are highlands in the east in the Rift Valley.

Take a look at this picture here.

We can see some of those mountainous highland areas there in the background of the picture.

And then in the foreground we can see this field where farming is taking place.

Not all of the DRC is cultivable.

However, the warm, wet equatorial climate means that when farming does happen, crops will grow in abundance.

In the east, near those highland areas, we can see in this photograph there are some mineral-rich soils, and crops will grow in abundance in these areas.

Farming can take place on a commercial scale, like we can see in this photo, or it's done by subsistence farmers who farm to feed themselves.

In the DRC, the main crops that are produced include things like coffee and cocoa, fruits like pineapples, vegetables like cassava, and there are also palm oil plantations, corn, rice, and plantains amongst others.

So there's a wide variety of produce that comes from the DRC.

Look at those lovely pictures there.

We have a grey parrot, the gazelle, and an African elephant there, who is also enjoying a mud bath from the look of it.

These animals can be seen in the DRC thanks to the equatorial climate and thanks to the diverse biomes, the biodiversity of the DRC is massive.

The rainforests are teeming with wildlife, large and small, while the savanna has these majestic beasts that roam freely across it, and the wetlands, they provide some cooling relief for some of the biggest land animals on earth, like this elephant.

It's quite amazing, isn't it, to think that thanks to that climate and thanks to those different biomes existing, that this amazing variety of natural life can be found.

So we can see there that there is a variety of crops produced in the DRC and a variety of animals living in the DRC, which might be useful now for this quick activity.

I want you to pause the video, time yourself for one minute, and make two quick lists: a list of wild animals of the DRC and a list of crops produced in the DRC.

Pause the video and make your quick lists now.

All done? Great.

Let's have a look.

Here are some suggestions from me for the wild animals: Hippo, antelope, ostrich, aardvark, zebra, tree frog, African elephants, gazelles, gorillas, monkeys, parrots.

And for crops: Did you think of coffee, plantain, cassava, pineapple, rice, corn, palm oil, and cocoa? Just to name some examples.

Well done.

Here are two maps of the DRC.

On the left we can see a map that shows us where urban settlements are located.

You can see the city Kinshasa there, the capital city marked with a star.

Compare that map to the map next to it, which shows you where the biomes of the DRC are located.

What do you notice? If you wish to, you could pause the video now and talk about these two maps with a partner.

Perhaps you noticed that the settlements were located around the major rivers like the Congo and its tributaries, and that's because people need water.

So they were important sources of water, and they could be used as transport routes.

You might have noticed the location of those urban settlements was not inside any of those biomes.

It was all around the edges, the edges of the rainforest and the edges of the savanna.

That's because it's easier for people to transport and have access around the edges of the biomes.

There are settlements where natural resources from the biomes can be exploited, and humans can generate wealth.

So building a city very close to an area where mining can happen, for example, that means that people can make money.

You might also have noticed that settlements are located near the borders of the DRC and surrounding countries, like locating Kinshasa near to Congo, or cities in the south near to Zambia.

Great observations, well done.

So thinking back to the locations of settlements, why do they locate near rivers? It's because the Congo River is a source of water, and more than one answer, the Congo River is a transport route.

That's why we see urban settlements starting to grow around major rivers and their tributaries.

So what effect then does the equatorial climate have on the people? We know that the equatorial climate means that there are periods of heavy downpours, and in the rainforest that's great for the plants and the animals.

They love it.

In the wetlands, those hippos, they love it.

They love that rain creating all that mud.

Humans, not so much.

It can be very, very challenging, and this increasing amount of torrential rainfall can lead to flooding, which can have very serious impacts for human populations.

And in 2024, the worst floods that had happened for many, many years happened in the DRC.

The Congo River burst its banks.

In fact, by January of 2024, which was three months after the torrential rainfall started, it was reported that over 300 people had died as a result of the heavy rain and flooding.

More than half the country had been forced to evacuate from their own homes.

There was also extensive damage to very important public community places like schools and markets and health centres.

And helping to recover from the floods was being made even more challenging because roads have been damaged and destroyed by the floods.

These torrential downpours are accompanied by ever-increasing temperatures, which is also not very good for the human populations.

Extremely high temperatures can lead to water scarcity, or worse, to drought.

The extent of areas in the DRC that are at risk of drought are expanding, and that's because of the increasing temperatures.

The temperatures that are increasing, the rainforest is shrinking, and the savanna is expanding.

A report published in 2022 by a charity called Water Aid warned that up to 40% of land was already being impacted by drought in the DRC, and that over the coming decade this was only going to increase.

What a great contrast to see how excessive rainfall and flooding can affect people in the same country just as much as a lack of water and drought can.

Izzy and Sam have been talking about this situation.

I'm not quite sure if they're both right though, so read what they say and decide who you think is correct.

I think that Izzy is actually correct in this case.

And the reason I think that is because the savanna is expanding and more and more areas of the DRC are becoming at risk of drought every year, and that's due to rising global temperatures.

Time for some activities now to finish off this lesson together.

First of all, in task one, I have produced a table of data for you.

The table shows some crops that are produced in the DRC and tells you the average production in millions of tonnes per year for each crop.

I would like you to put that information into a bar chart, please.

Secondly, I would like you to explain how the equatorial climate of the DRC presents both opportunities and challenges for the people and the wildlife of the DRC.

You can pause the video while you complete the activities, and then when you come back I will share some examples with you.

I hope you enjoy the task.

Okay, task one.

Here is my bar chart.

On the Y axis, the vertical axis, I have the numbers representing the millions of tonnes.

And on the X axis, the horizontal axis, I have the types of crop labelled: palm oil, plantain, maize, and cassava.

And it's clear to see there at a glance from the graph that cassava is by far and away the most highly produced crop in the DRC from these crops that are shown.

Secondly, to explain how that climate has an impact, you may have had ideas like this: The DRC experiences an equatorial climate.

This means that biomes like tropical rainforests cover wide areas of the country.

The climate is also good for crop growth, especially cassava and cocoa.

The equatorial climate means that there is frequent heavy rainfall.

When this happens for a long period of time, rivers can reach capacity or even burst their banks.

In 2024, 300 people died and lots more were left homeless when the Congo River flooded a large area due to heavy rainfall.

Did you have similar ideas? Well done for completing these activities, and well done for listening so well to all of the information in today's lesson.

Let's have a recap of what we've done today.

The DRC has an equatorial climate with high temperatures and heavy rainfall.

The country is home to diverse biomes, including the rainforest, savanna, and wetlands.

And this climate creates opportunities as well as challenges for agriculture, for human settlements, and for different types of wildlife.

There are parts of the DRC that face seasonal flooding and there are other parts that experience drought.

I hope you have enjoyed learning about the climate and the biomes of the DRC today, and I look forward to seeing you again next time for another lesson from this unit of work about the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Bye for now.