{"id":52368,"date":"2022-09-29T12:40:49","date_gmt":"2022-09-29T12:40:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/?p=52368"},"modified":"2022-09-30T12:37:26","modified_gmt":"2022-09-30T12:37:26","slug":"well-keep-our-forests-you-keep-your-dollars-report-documents-congolese-communities-pledge-to-resist-oil-and-gas-auction-%ef%bf%bc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/press\/52368\/well-keep-our-forests-you-keep-your-dollars-report-documents-congolese-communities-pledge-to-resist-oil-and-gas-auction-%ef%bf%bc\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cWe\u2019ll keep our forests, you keep your dollars!\u201d Report documents Congolese communities pledge to resist oil and gas auction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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STOP THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW OIL BLOCKS IN THE DRC<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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29 September 2022, Kinshasa \u2013 <\/strong>The giant oil and gas auction launched in July 2022 by the Democratic Republic of Congo was done without the knowledge – much less consent – of local communities, who vow to resist it. A report released today by Greenpeace Africa<\/a>, 350 Africa.org, Rainforest Rescue, and the Congolese NGOs Dynamique Pole, Innovation pour le d\u00e9veloppement et la protection de l’environnement (IDPE), Youth Movement for the Protection of the Environment (MJPE) and R\u00e9seau des \u00e9ducateurs du d\u00e9veloppement durable (REDD) details these findings as the DRC prepares to host the PreCOP27<\/a> climate conference in Kinshasa in three days.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n

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READ THE FULL REPORT HERE<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

\u201cThis report demonstrates how the DRC oil and gas auction not only threatens the global climate and biodiversity, but exposes Congolese people to the disease, conflict, poverty, and corruption that inevitably come with the curse of oil,\u201d said Ir\u00e8ne Wabiwa Betoko, Greenpeace Africa\u2019s International Project Lead for the Congo Basin forest.<\/p>\n\n

On the 28th of July 2022, the DRC launched an auction of 30 oil and gas blocks, covering a gigantic 277,954 square kilometres, an area larger than the whole of Ghana or the United Kingdom. Three of these overlap peatlands and at least 13 overlap protected areas, including Virunga National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. <\/p>\n\n

The report is a first effort to present the view of some of the local communities living on auctioned lands, and likely to suffer the most direct consequences of potential oil exploration and subsequent drilling. <\/p>\n\n

\u201cThe government is neglecting its own people. It acts as if these forests were empty, that they\u2019re without villages, without animals, it’s heartbreaking,\u201d a resident of the village of Lukolela told us. Others repeatedly declared: \u201c(if this is) something for the good of the population, (it) would not have been done in secret.\u201d For their security, full names and locations of people interviewed will not be disclosed. <\/p>\n\n

On the eve of the auction, Greenpeace Africa conducted two field missions to dozens of communities in four prospective oil blocks covering about 100,000 square kilometres, equal to about 1,000 times the size of Paris. <\/p>\n\n

None of the villages visited in Equateur and Tshuapa provinces, where oil blocks 22, 4 and 4b are located, dispose of clean drinking water \u2013 all of them relying instead on five local rivers. The report estimates that more than one million people in the zone could be impacted by oil pollution and ensuing waterborne diseases. Pollution would also threaten food security in this poor region, where the capital city Mbandaka and other towns and villages rely on agricultural produce from the communities at risk. <\/p>\n\n

In Haut Lomami province, 21 communities were visited across the designated Upemba oil block, overlapping much of Upemba National Park. At least 150,000 local fishermen, as well as thousands of farmers growing rice and other crops, currently live in relative comfort, earning up to one million Congolese francs (USD 500) per month. Their livelihoods would be devastated by oil exploration and drilling.<\/p>\n\n

Upon learning of plans to explore and drill for oil, the local population expressed fear of disease, famine, and pollution, as well as displacement from villages established on their ancestral lands: \u201cThe government project is not the model of economic activity compatible with our environment. It is harmful to us who live here and everything around us. We breathe fresh air, we live in a healthy environment \u2013 why destroy all this and our fish?\u201d asked a local community leader.<\/p>\n\n

Locals also fear becoming \u201cslaves\u201d and the emergence of new social conflicts once oil exploration begins: \u201cAs our ancestors experienced, the creation of Upemba Park disrupted our way of life with restrictions on access and activities. We are not ready to welcome an oil company,\u201d said another community member.<\/p>\n\n

The report also highlights risks of increased corruption and rent-seeking at the national level: \u201cThe haste to deliver all oil and gas blocks might be an attempt to monopolise financial resources in the twilight of this government in the pre-election period,\u201d said Bantu Lukambo, director of IDPE. \u201cCivil society will resist feeding networks of corruption at the expense of Congolese people in this sensitive period.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Aside from being a climate, biodiversity, health and rule-of-law catastrophe in the making, the legal mandate for authorising auction of 30 oil and gas blocks by the government remains unclear and dubious. The report indicates that nearly half of the blocks appear to be auctioned without following the official tendering procedure. The auction may also be non-compliant with the DRC\u2019s 2011 Environment law, 2014 Nature Conservation law and 2015 Hydrocarbons law.<\/p>\n\n

Contacted on this subject, Mr. Budimbu indicates that \u201cit was inadvertent\u201d that the Council of Ministers had only discussed 16 instead of 30 oil and gas blocks. <\/p>\n\n

The report calls on the DRC government to immediately cancel its plans for oil and gas, and to promote alternative investments in renewable energies, in order to end the energy poverty from which 72 million Congolese suffer.<\/p>\n\n

Donor countries, whose COP26 forest protection agreement with DRC greenlights oil and gas activity across the rainforest, protected areas and peatlands, are urged to work with the Congolese government on alternatives to oil and gas activity and to condemn the latter\u2019s impacts on human rights, the rule of law and the environment.<\/p>\n\n

Finally, financial institutions considering supporting oil and gas development in DRC will find ample evidence in this report that basic standards have been violated, namely the need to obtain the Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) of potentially affected communities.<\/p>\n\n

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READ THE FULL REPORT HERE<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

ENDS<\/p>\n\n