“The Congo Basin’s peatlands are the world’s lungs. People say if the world exists, it’s because Congo is breathing.”
Imagine someone showed up on your doorstep one day and told you that the swampy forest not far from your home contained a rare and precious soil, so powerful that the planet’s future hinges on its preservation. The world is relying on you to keep the soil undisturbed, you’re told, or sinister forces will be unleashed, large enough to doom us all. Soon, more visitors come your way, this time bearing axes. How do you stop them?

This plot out of a sci-fi movie is unfolding amid a...