Congo DR
Democratic Republic of the Congo: A Brief Introduction
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is the fourth most populous country in Africa, with a population of 90 million.1 It is also the second largest African country in terms of land area, with its vast equatorial territory spanning a wide range of landscapes. It contains the world’s second largest river, the Congo, its second-largest rainforest, and part of the Eastern Afromontane Biodiversity Hotspot.2 Extensive mineral resources are concentrated in the drier southeast of the country, and were the source of 70% of global cobalt production and 21% of global diamond production in 2019.3 DRC’s exceptional biodiversity and mineral richness make it particularly vulnerable to environmental threats and extractive pressures. The harvesting of rubber and mining of minerals shaped a famously brutal colonial period, followed by a turbulent independence characterized by foreign intervention and long-term conflict.4
Mapping Major Climate Events and Climate-Induced Displacement
In the DRC, flooding is the major cause of climate-induced displacement. Climate change is likely to result in both an increase in rainfall and flooding events throughout much of the DRC.5 During 2020, floods displaced almost 280,000 people, but at the end of the year 65,00 people remained displaced. Far more people were displaced by conflict, with 5.2 million people internally displaced by conflict at the end of 2021.6 Furthermore, in 2019, there were 1.7 million Congolese emigrants internationally.7 Climate change fuels conflict by causing increased pressure on resources. It also aggravates flooding and soil erosion that contributes to food scarcity.8 Historically, DRC has been a common destination for refugees from neighboring countries.9
Mapping the Costs of the Climate Crisis
The FAO has found the DRC to have more people in the crisis phase of acute food insecurity than any other country.10 Poor rainfall distribution has contributed to this widespread food insecurity.11 Over the next several decades, food insecurity will likely compound the effects of elevated temperature and humidity in increasing the prevalence of Neglected Tropical Diseases, several of which Congo already has the largest number of cases worldwide.12 The DRC also faces major threats not from climate change itself, but from responses to climate change that rely on the adoption of alternative energy technologies. Congo has large reserves of various metals that are vital to many of these technologies, including the cobalt and lithium used in electric vehicle batteries.13 By increasing international demand for these metals, alternative energy technologies are causing the expansion of the Congolese mining industry. This industry is currently in a period of rapid growth, with the number of mining projects having increased by over 300% since 2007.14 Artisanal and small scale mining, which accounts for a great deal of Congolese mineral production and employs around 12.5 million people, has high rates of injury and mortality.15 The mining industry continues to fuel conflict and rampant violence and injustice, as competing groups fight over access to mineral resources. Chinese investors currently control about 70% of Congolese mining assets.16 Many of these assets are recently acquired from Western companies.
Mapping Resilience and Migration Pathways
The DRC’s NDC is oriented around achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.17 The top sustainable development priority in the NDC is sustainable land use and forestry. 90% of the DRC’s greenhouse gas emissions come from land use, land use change, and forestry.18 The DRC’s extensive forests made it a carbon sink until 2008, but increased logging and other land use has since made it a net emitter.19 Sustainable land use will thus be crucial to reducing Congolese ghg emissions. However, adaptation remains the DRC’s top priority. Its NDC identifies five principal climate risks: intense rain, coastal erosion, floods, extreme heat events, and seasonal droughts.20 The DRC plans to address these threats through the framework of the 2006 National Action Program for Climate Change Adaption (PANA). Under this framework, the DRC is working to foster a more resilient agricultural sector and implement sustainable forest management.21 As the NDC notes, the DRC can draw on its extraordinary richness in natural resources, including hydropower.22 The DRC has the greatest hydropower potential of any country in Africa, of which only 2.5% remains developed.23 Hydropower development has the potential to provide power to vast swaths of the population that remain without access to electricity.24 In the meantime, Congolese emigrants continue to face discrimination and barriers to legal residence in their destination countries.
Necessary Changes
The effects of climate change on the DRC bring into relief the necessity of a just transitions approach to decarbonization. Many of the technologies that currently figure into global decarbonization efforts rely on minerals extracted, at extraordinary human and environmental cost, from the DRC. The role of so-called “green” technology in the harm caused by the mining industry calls into question the true sustainability of energy transitions that rely on hi-tech solutions. These transitions often constitute a kind of arbitrage under which risk and harm is exported to low-income countries, in a dynamic that replicates colonial economies. For decades, the Congolese diaspora in Europe, particularly in Belgium, DRC’s former colonial overlord, have been calling attention to the way colonial violence continues to drive conflict and exploitation.25 These calls must be heeded with respect to the mining industry in the DRC.
Citations
- 1The World Bank. “Population, total – Congo, Dem. Rep.” Accessed May 16, 2022. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?locations=CD.
- 2Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund. “Eastern Afromontane.” Accessed May 16, 2022. https://www.cepf.net/our-work/biodiversity-hotspots/eastern-afromontane.
- 3International Trade Administration. “Democratic Republic of the Congo – Country Commercial Guide: Mining and Minerals.” Accessed May 16, 2022. https://www.trade.gov/country-commercial-guides/democratic-republic-con….
- 4Lowes, Sara, and Eduardo Montero. “Lasting effects of colonial-era resource exploitation in Congo: Concessions, violence, and indirect rule.” VoxDev. November 2021. https://voxdev.org/topic/institutions-political-economy/lasting-effects…
- 5République Démocratique du Congo. “Soumission de la Contribution Nationale Prevue Determinee au Niveau National au Titre de la Convention des Nations Unies sur les Changements Climatiques [NDC].” https://www4.unfccc.int/sites/ndcstaging/PublishedDocuments/Democratic%…. 6.
- 6Internal Displacement Monitoring Center. “Democratic Republic of the Congo.” Accessed May 16, 2022. https://www.internal-displacement.org/countries/democratic-republic-of-…
- 7Migrants & Refugees Section. “Country Profiles – Democratic Republic of the Congo.” Accessed May 16, 2022. https://migrants-refugees.va/country-profile/democratic-republic-of-con….
- 8International Development Research Center. “Addressing climate- and water-driven migration and conflict interlinkages to build Community Resilience in the Congo Basin.” Accessed May 16, 2022.
https://www.idrc.ca/en/project/addressing-climate-and-water-driven-migr… - 9Migrants & Refugees Section. “Country Profiles – Democratic Republic of the Congo.” https://migrants-refugees.va/country-profile/democratic-republic-of-con…
- 10‘Wake-up call’ to assist DR battle food insecurity.” UN News. November 2021. https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/11/1105472
- 11FAO. “Democratic Republic of the Congo - Food Security & Nutrition Snapshot: November 2021.” November 2021. https://www.ipcinfo.org/fileadmin/user_upload/ipcinfo/docs/IPC_DRC_Food…. 1.
- 12Hotez P (2019) DR Congo and Nigeria: New neglected tropical disease threats and solutions for the bottom 40%. PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases 13(8): e0007145. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0007145. 1, 3.
- 13Valckx, Nico, et al. “Metals Demand From Energy Transition May Top Current Global Supply.” IMFBlog. December 2021. https://blogs.imf.org/2021/12/08/metals-demand-from-energy-transition-m….
- 14Ina King. “The rise of the DRC: a new Horizon in Mining Investment.” Africa Mining iQ. August 2019. https://projectsiq.co.za/latest-news/the-rise-of-the-DRC-a-new-horizon-…
- 15King, 2019.
- 16Ross, Aaron and Karin Strohecker. “EXCLUSIVE: Congo reviewing $6 bln mining deal with Chinese investors -finmin.” Reuters. August 2021. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/exclusive-congo-reviewing-6-bln-mi…
- 17UNDP NDC Support Programme. “Democratic Republic of Congo.” Accessed May 16, 2022. https://www.ndcs.undp.org/content/ndc-support-programme/en/home/our-wor…
- 18Central African forest Initiative. “FAQ: What are the greenhouse gas emissions of DRC? What are the contributions of different sectors?” Accessed May 16, 2022. https://www1.undp.org/content/cafi/en/home/all-news/drc-forests---frequ…
- 19FAQ: What are the greenhouse gas emissions of DRC? What are the contributions of different sectors?”
- 20NDC. 6.
- 21NDC. 6-7.
- 22NDC. 1.
- 23Andritz. “Democratic Republic of Congo – Cornucopia of Africa.” Accessed May 16, 2022. https://www.andritz.com/hydro-en/hydronews/hydropower-africa/democratic….
- 24République Démocratique du Congo, Ministère de l’Environnement. “Programme d’Action National d’Adaptation au Changement Climatique de la Changement Climatique de la République Démocratique du Congo.” September 2006. https://www.joinforwater.ngo/sites/default/files/library_assets/W_MIL_E…. 68.
- 25De Lorenzo, Daniela. “Dark past, brighter future? The Congolese diaspora in Belgium.” Deutsche Welle. June 2020.
https://www.dw.com/en/dark-past-brighter-future-the-congolese-diaspora-….