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Congo is auctioning off its rainforest to become 'the new destination for oil investments.' [1]
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Date: 2022-07-25
Mbuti pygmy men, from left, Faizi Malambi, Kawaya Situka, Besei, and Kange Ambali carry their hunting nets and spears as they await the start of the day hunt, in the Okapi Wildlife Reserve outside the town of Epulu, Congo. The pygmies traditional practice of hunting bushmeat has devolved into an all-out commercial endeavor, staged not for subsistence, but to feed growing regional markets. The result: the forests, those that remain, are growing emptier by the day.
Our priority is not to save the planet. Mpanu Mpanu, advisor to the Minister of Hydrocarbons.
The world has thrown the massive expanse of the carbon-sucking Congo rainforest overboard. Just as they did with the Amazon and Indonesia.
The government of President Félix Tshisekedi announced the auction to become the new hotspot for international fossil fuel extraction and processing.
The New York Times:
DAKAR, Senegal — The Democratic Republic of Congo, home to one of the largest old-growth rainforests on earth, is auctioning off vast amounts of land in a push to become “the new destination for oil investments,” part of a global shift as the world retreats on fighting climate change in a scramble for fossil fuels. The oil and gas blocks, which will be auctioned in late July, extend into Virunga National Park, the world’s most important gorilla sanctuary, as well as tropical peatlands that store vast amounts of carbon, keeping it out of the atmosphere and from contributing to global warming. “If oil exploitation takes place in these areas, we must expect a global climate catastrophe, and we will all just have to watch helplessly,” said Irene Wabiwa, who oversees the Congo Basin forest campaign for Greenpeace in Kinshasa. Congo’s about-face in allowing new oil drilling in environmentally sensitive areas comes eight months after its president, Félix Tshisekedi, stood alongside world leaders at the global climate summit in Glasgow and endorsed a 10-year agreement to protect its rainforest, part of the vast Congo Basin, which is second in size only to the Amazon. The deal included international pledges of $500 million for Congo, one of the world’s poorest nations, over the first five years.
Congo is an impoverished nation. The country will make much money from oil sales in the wetlands of the second largest rainforest. The auction was announced in a disturbing video posted on Twitter. Congo could pocket 32 billion from oil sales. You do the math.
The translation of the tweet:
Under the high patronage of the Head of State, His Excellency the President of the DRC, @fatshi13 the Minister of Hydrocarbons, @DidierBudimbu launches calls for tenders for the 16 oil blocks out of the 32 that the country has. @TotalEnergies @Chevron @AppoSecretariat
x Sous le haut patronage du chef de l'État,son Excellence Monsieur le Président de la RDC,@fatshi13 le ministre des hydrocarbures, @DidierBudimbu lance les appels d'offres des 16 blocs pétroliers sur les 32 que possèdent le pays. @TotalEnergies @Chevron @AppoSecretariat pic.twitter.com/d83QZm0maK — Ministère des Hydrocarbures RDC (@Min_HydroRDC) May 2, 2022
Environmentalists railed against the decision, and in petty vindictiveness, Mpanu Mpanu, the lead climate specialist and advisor to the Minister of Hydrocarbons, increased the sale of 16 oil blocks (see embedded tweet) to thirty. So far, oil companies have been relatively silent about the auction. They know, just as they had found out in the Arctic, that a worldwide brouhaha would result if they bid and develop this critical world habitat. They are treading the issue carefully.
The Congolese raised an important point. The world promised 500 million dollars to protect these forests. Then Ukraine was invaded by Russia, and climate action against the primary driver of climate breakdown was set aside. Because of global inaction for decade after decade a transition to green technology is a fledgling technology.
The auction highlights a double standard that many political leaders across the African continent have called out: How can Western countries, which built their prosperity on fossil fuels that emit poisonous, planet-warming fumes, demand that Africa forgo their reserves of coal, oil and gas in order to protect everyone else? And it raises a question asked by many communities whose very survival is based on cutting trees for sale or for cooking fires: If they protect carbon stocks of incalculable value to the whole world, what do they get in return?
The effect on the climate will be incalculable. As the NY Times writes, seismic surveys will be devastating in and of itself. Indigenous people will lose their heritage and are likely forced into sprawling urban areas full of poverty and disease. Waste byproducts from oil drilling include salt and heavy metals. Peat will be drained and dried, releasing carbon-heavy molecules into the atmosphere. The final nail in the rainforest coffin is the necessity of building roads and other infrastructure that will change the primal ecosystem to a concrete jungle as more people move in.
For the wildlife of Congo, the development will cause destruction and extinction. How gut-wrenching.
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