The Congo rainforeest is the life support for millions of people and species in the heart of Africa. Democratic Republic of the Congo is home to more than 40 million people and they depend on their forest. A moratorium on new logging that has been in place since 2002, and over 15 million hectares of rainforest has been granted to the logging companies. That is an area 5 times the size of Belgium. Much of this is in areas are vital for protecting biodiversity. Local communities have yet to receive any money from the taxes that are paid for the rights to log. The logging companies are giving gifts such as bags of salt and crates of beer worth less than $100 US dollars, to the communities and making promises to build hospitals and schools.