The Mai Ndombe REDD+ Project protects 300,000 hectares (740,000 acres) of critical bonobo and forest elephant habitat within the world’s second-largest intact rainforest and some of the most important wetlands on the planet, the Congo Basin. This project reduces the principal drivers of forest and biodiversity loss and is charting a new pathway for community prosperity by driving investments into the local communities that are among the under-resourced in the world. Such investments include building and renovating schools, providing healthcare services (such as access to immunizations), supporting food security and nutrition (such as through agricultural diversification), and providing capacity-building activities to improve well-being. The globally recognized Verified Carbon Standard is used to verify that the project is stopping deforestation in the area. The Verified Carbon Units (VCU) generated by the project are traded on the voluntary carbon market. The proceeds from the VCU sales are used to fund forest conservation, wildlife protection, and community development in one of the most under-resourced communities in the world.  Without the project, more than 3.5 million tonnes of CO2 emissions would have entered the atmosphere each year from logging and related activities. In addition to avoiding 24,263,207 tonnes of CO2 emissions to date, conservation efforts are addressing the impacts of logging that reduced the natural habitat of native wildlife like chimpanzees, bonobos, and elephants.