It is an uncomfortable fact that decades of conflict and poverty in the Democratic Republic of Congo have helped to protect the world's second largest rainforest, and by extension to slow the process of global climate change.
"Yes," says Thierry Bodson, who runs the World Wildlife Fund's programmes in the east of the country from the town of Goma. "In some places the presence of rebels has protected some areas. A lack of development has somehow protected the Congo basin."
During a fairly frenetic trip to eastern Democratic Republic of Congo last week I spent a couple of hours at the Heal Africa centre in Goma, one of several institutions in the region where victims of sexual violence are treated.
The compound was crowded. There was a lot of building work going on and the existing wards looked full.
There is a crowded pleasure cruiser idling, noisily, off the shore; a well-guarded warlord wanted by the International Criminal Court living openly a few blocks up the hill (I've tried knocking on Bosco Ntaganda's door a couple of times but he hasn't invited me in yet); and in the squalid slums that form most of the town, children are dying of malaria.
If the wealth gap at home troubles you - come to Goma, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and see what happens when you mix two decades of conflict, a collapsed state, and vast mineral wealth.
Where is your favourite place in Africa? Mine - for a jumble of contradictory reasons that don't quite add up - is the Kivus, on the eastern edge of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
I used to spend a lot of time in the region when I was based in Nairobi and I'm finally heading back there after a gap of six years. It's election time in DR Congo, but I'll also be reporting on several other themes and would love to hear any suggestions you might have.
Is it really over? South Africa is still digesting the news that the Julius Malema show has been taken off air.
Many - including the star himself - seem convinced this is just another dramatic plot twist in a soap opera that must surely have many more seasons to run.
Africa correspondent since 2009, covering the continent's highs and lows - from the World Cup, Africa's economic boom, and the literary treasures of Timbuktu, to the pirates of Somalia, the conflict in Ivory Coast, and the struggles of Zimbabwe.
20 years as a foreign correspondent, based in the former Soviet Union, Africa, and Asia.
Reported on the 1993 parliamentary rebellion in Moscow, two Chechen wars, the Asian tsunami in 2004, and conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Burma, Congo, Sudan, Liberia and beyond.
Born in the UK, grew up in Belgium and boarding school. Married with three children.
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