CNN
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Despite mounting pleas from climate change activists, the Democratic Republic of Congo says it is moving forward with its plan to auction the vast majority of oil and gas drilling blocks located in the country’s rainforests and peatlands.
The Ministry of Hydrocarbons said in a statement that 27 oil and 3 gas blocks will be auctioned, which is higher than the 16 blocks that the country had initially done in May.
The block includes areas that lead up to Virunga National Park, a sanctuary for endangered mountain gorillas in eastern Congo.
The country’s Hydrocarbons Minister Didier Budimbu said on Tuesday that the Congolese population would benefit from the exploitation of oil.
“President Felix Tshisekedi has a vision and wants to lift his population out of poverty,” Budimbu said during a news conference.
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According to the Norwegian Refugee Council, there are more than 27 million people in the DRC, including more than 3 million children who do not have enough food to feed themselves – a third of the country’s population – and more than 5 million who are internally displaced.
A petition, signed by more than 100,000 people, is calling on the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Felix Tshisekedi, to end the development of new oil and gas fields in the country, according to a Greenpeace USA news release.
“Only six months after signing a $500 million forest conservation deal at COP26, the Congolese government is declaring war on our planet with oil and gas,” said Irene, International Project Leader for Congo Basin Forests, Greenpeace Africa Wabiwa Betoko said. “The immediate price will be paid by Congolese communities who are not aware of the auction, not consulted or informed of the risks to their health and livelihood. Many of them will rise up against it, and We will stand with them.”
Budimbu pushed back auction critics, saying that NGOs cannot determine how a sovereign country is headed.
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The option we took is to give people from the poorest backgrounds a way to try to improve their lives through their economy, so 100,000 signatures is fine, but there are Congolese people who need to eat,” Budimbu said. Told.
Virunga National Park Located on forest-covered volcanoes in Central Africa, it is home to more than half the global population of mountain gorillas.
Virunga National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the most biologically diverse protected area in Africa.
It is made up of carbon-rich peatlands and primary forest which, when logged, release massive amounts of carbon-dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere, contributing to the climate crisis. Deforestation also removes an important “sponge” for absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere.
The expansion of oil drilling permits is just one of a growing number of examples of accelerating fossil fuel exploration and use amid the global energy crisis.
The auction will take place on 28 and 29 July.