The Central Africa Regional Program for the Environment (CARPE) is a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) initiative aimed at promoting sustainable natural resource management in the Congo Basin. The Congo Basin forest is the second largest contiguous moist tropical forest in the world and plays a key role in securing the livelihoods of Central African citizens. The forest also provides critical habitat for biodiversity conservation and supplies vital regional and worldwide ecological services. In recognition of the important role of the Congo Basin forest and amidst the increasing pressures facing the Congo Basin forest, CARPE works to reduce the rate of forest degradation and loss of biodiversity by supporting increased local, national, and regional natural resource management capacity.