A peace agreement finally arrived in 2002, but today militias continue to fight in the Congo’s eastern reaches. As a consequence, multinational companies have been slower to set up large slash-and-burn operations than they have in, say, Brazil, Max Holmes, CEO of the Woodwell Climate Research Center, told me. Without as many corporate-scale operations on the ground, foliage has been preserved, and the planet has stayed cooler.

"war in the congo has protected the region from the ravages of unbridled neoliberal capitalism, keeping the planet cooler" isn't quite as pithy