The Democratic Republic of the Congo has announced it will auction oil and gas permits in critically endangered gorilla habitat and the world’s largest tropical peatlands next week. The sale raises concerns about the credibility of a forest protection agreement signed with the country by Boris Johnson at Cop26.
On MondayHydrocarbons minister Didier Budimbu said the Democratic Republic of the Congo was expanding an auction of oil exploration blocks to include two sites that overlap with the Virunga national park, a UNESCO world heritage site that is home to the last remaining mountain gorillas on Earth.
The planned sale already included permits in the tropical peat bogs of Cuvette Centrale in the northwest of the country, which store the equivalent of three-year global emissions of fossil fuels.
The Congo Basin is the only major rainforest that absorbs more carbon than it emits and experts have described it as the The worst place in the world to explore for fossil fuels..
Environmental groups have urged major fossil fuel companies not to participate in the auction and said President Felix Tshisekedi, who signed a $500m (£417.6m) deal to protect the forest with Boris Johnson on the first day of Cop26 last year, you should cancel the auction. reduction. The Congo Basin rainforest stretches across six countries and regulates rainfall as far as Egypt.
Speaking to The Guardian, Budimbu acknowledged environmental concerns but defended his country’s right to exploit its natural resources. He said revenue from oil and gas projects was needed to protect the Congo Basin forest and develop the country economically.
“We have a primary responsibility towards Congolese taxpayers who, for the most part, live in conditions of extreme precariousness and poverty, and aspire to socio-economic well-being that oil exploitation is likely to provide them,” he said.
Earlier this week, Budimbu told the Financial Times that Hollywood actors Ben Affleck and Leonardo DiCaprio had “jumped on the horse” and helped stop oil and gas exploration in Virunga after a 2014 Netflix documentarybut he said that this time the Democratic Republic of the Congo would not be stopped.
The sale, which is scheduled for July 28-29, has raised concerns about the credibility of a letter of intent signed by Boris Johnson on behalf of the Central African Forestry Initiative (Cafi) for a 10-year deal that includes goals to protect high-value forests and peatlands with 12 donor nations.
Lord Goldsmith, UK Minister for the International Environment, said the UK government was “very concerned” about plans to explore for oil at Cuvette Centrale.
“We strongly believe that local people need to benefit directly from their forests, and degrading them does not do that. We will continue to work with the Democratic Republic of the Congo on solutions to protect this vital ecosystem and ensure that commitments on mining, oil and gas sector reform are met,” he said.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is one of the poorest countries in the world, with nearly three-quarters of its 60 million people living on less than $1.90 a day in 2018, according to the world Bank. The country’s per capita emissions were 141 times lower than those of the UK in 2019, which is responsible for 3% of all historical global emissions, not including those under colonial rule, according to carbon abstract.
Irene Wabiwa, International Project Leader for the Congo Forest Campaign at Greenpeace Africahe said the auction mocked the Democratic Republic of Congo’s efforts to position itself as a country of solutions to the climate crisis.
“The growing neo-colonial fight over oil and gas in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which now threatens the Virunga National Park, as well as water sources, peatlands and protected areas, is a disturbing example of the unhinged obsession with monetizing nature,” he said.
Simon Lewis, professor of global change sciences at University College London and a world expert on the DRC’s peatlands, said the Congo Basin was the worst place in the world to explore for oil and gas.
“Opening these forests to oil development will lead to hunting, deforestation, oil pollution, carbon emissions and social conflict. The oil auction is an auction to start a wildlife, health, climate and human rights catastrophe,” he said.
“Oil development risks social unrest, as seen in the Niger Delta. The conflict in the center of the DRC, just a river trip from Kinshasa, could threaten the stability of the government and the entire country. Since the 1998-2003 Congo war and its aftermath killed more than 5 million people, everything must be done to prevent conflict in the Congo. The auction should be cancelled.”
Cafi said he could not comment at this time.
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