Deforestation in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Introduction

1. Topic background

Democratic Republic of Congo

Geographical location: Congo is located in the central-western part of the sub-Saharan Africa along
the equator, lying between latitudes 4°N and 5°S, and longitudes 11°W and 19°E
National language: French
Religion: mostly Christian
Capital: Kinshasa
Extremely rich in gold, tantalum, tungsten, and tin – all minerals used in electronics such as cell
phones and laptops
Alliances: Burundi, Uganda, Rwanda
Culture: mix of French, Arab, and African
Total land land area: 3573000 square kilometres
Total forested area: 20433000 hectares
Forest cover loss in 2000(%): total- 1.99
inside protected areas- 0.68
outside protected areas- 2.2
Protected areas: 66 terrestrial and 1 marine area( total area covered(estimated)- 286345 square
kilometres, or about 12.1% of the surface area)

deforestation
/ˌdiːfɒrɪˈsteɪʃ(ə)n/

noun
noun: deforestation; plural noun: deforestations
1. the action of clearing a wide area of trees.

‘While the world’s forests continue to shrink as the populations increase and woodlands are
converted to agriculture and other users, over the past 25 years, the rate of net global deforestation
has slowed down by more than 50%’- UN
Some 129 million hectares of forest- an area almost equivalent to the size of South Africa, have
been lost since 1990, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization(FAO)’s
most comprehensive forest review to date, the Global Forest Resources Assessment 2015.

Deforestation in the Democratic Republic of Congo has become a pressing domestic and
transnational issue with potentially high environmental costs. According to the UN Environment
Programme, the direct causes of deforestation are slash and burn agriculture, collection of fuelwood
and charcoal, illegal logging and infrastructure development. Charcoal and fuelwood are the main
causes of deforestation here as it is used for most of Congo’s energy needs. This, as well as illegal
logging does small scale farming, are the main causes of climate change here. Only about 10% of
Congo’s population(total population is about 85 million)have access to electricity, so the majority of
the population uses firewood and charcoal for fuel and energy. The rising demand for charcoal trade
turned into a huge business which many people, including youths, use to make a living. Moreover,
illegal logging also brings much money.

The DRC is among the most resource-rich countries on the planet, with an abundance of gold,
tantalum, tungsten, and tin – all minerals used in electronics such as cell phones and laptops – yet it
continues to have an extremely poor population.

Deforestation in the republic of Congo has been ongoing for a Long time, and satellite data indicate
that the Congo basin had lost an area of forest that is even larger than Bangladesh between 2000 and
2014. Also, since 1990, deforestation in the DRC has remained at 0.20%, which equates to 311,000
hectares or about 1931.213 square kilometres annually. The Congo basin is the second largest
rainforest on the planet, but at current trends, it could potentially be fully cleared by 2100, also due
to a fivefold population increase by then.

Deforestation in the DRC leads to the visible depletion of resources, loss of habitat for many rare
species of fauna, resulting in decreased biodiversity, soil erosion, and contributes to climate change.
Because the rate of deforestation has remained constant for over more than 20 years, people may
think that government or non-government organisations have been responsible for the decline, but
reports tell a different story. There are 3 reasons why deforestation rates have remained constant:
1) The road network within the country has been gradually in decline, making access to
more rural areas more difficult,
2) Political and regulatory changes are disincentives for investment in the country, and
3) Agriculture has expanded outside forested areas.

2. Past International Actions

The Paris Agreement

The Paris agreement is an international agreement within the United Nations framework convection
on climate change, dealing with greenhouse-gas-emissions mitigation, adaptation, and finance,
signed by 195 countries including Congo on 22 April 2016, and was taken into effect on 4
November 2016. The aim of this agreement is to decrease global warming described in its Article 2,
‘enhancing the implementation’ of the UNFCCC through:
1) Holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial
levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial
levels, recognising that this would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change,
2) Increasing the ability to adapt to the adverse impacts of the climate change and foster climate
resilience and lower greenhouse gas emissions development, in a manner that does not threaten
food production, and
3) Making finance flows consistent with a pathway toward low greenhouse gas emissions and
climate resilient development.

The NDC partnership was launched at COP22 in Marrakech to enhance cooperation so that
countries have access to the technicals knowledge and financial supposition they need to achieve
large-scale climate and sustainable development targets.

The negotiators of this agreement, however, said that the NDCs and the target of no more than 2 °C
increase were insufficient; instead, a target of 1.5 °C maximum increase is required.

According to the United Nations Environment Programme(UNEP), if we rely only on the current
climate change commitments of the Paris agreement, temperatures will likely increase to 3.2 °C this
century. To limit global temperature rise to 1.5 °C, emissions must be below 25 gigatons (Gt) by
2030.

United Nations Forum on Forests(UNFF)

The United Nations Forum on Forests is a high level intergovernmental policy forum. It includes all
United Nations member states and permanent observers, the UNFF Secretariat, the Collaborative
Partnership on Forests, Regional Organisations and Processes and Major Groups. One particular
event that the DRC participated in is the Transfer of Environmentally Sound Technologies for
Sustainable Forest Management(SFM) in December 2005. It encompasses a broad range of
technologies, knowledge an policy instruments these can include scientific know-how, traditional
forest-related knowledge, assessment and monitoring technologies, integrated information
management systems, sustainable forest management practices, silviculture, harvesting and
processing technologies, recycling of wood, fuel wood energy technologies, sound technologies fo
secondary wood products, economic instruments and mechanisms for SFM, certification and the
labelling approaches and forest-related climate change mitigation mechanisms(UNFF Secretariat).

3. Country Policies

The DRC has a couple of laws and policies in place to improve national and local forest
management and governance. The 2002 Forest Code is the leading document, setting basic
principles for better forest policy and greater protections for local people in production forests. The
2002 Forest Code No. 011/2002 is the main legislation regulating the forest sector in the DRC. One
of the major focuses of these forest reforms was to restore State control over a sector profoundly
undetermined by corruption and illegality, due in large part to decades of political instability and
civil war. It calls for better forest control and oversight, implementation of sound forest plans and
improved preservation of local people’s rights. The code also demands that local communities
receive a greater of direct management of forests, including provisions for news non-extractive
forest uses. To further help local communities, the Code establishes a mandatory transfer of forest
area fees(40%) to local entities. Companies and corporations are also required to make
contributions to rural development, and national and provincial forest councils were implemented to
improve transparency and distribution of future logging rights.

In 2002, the DRC government also issued an important moratorium on the allocation of new forest
concessions and banned the exchange, relocation or rehabilitation of old titles.

Companies, both national and foreign, should process their wood in the DRC to promote the local
processing industry and add value to their wood and wood products before export. Only national
operators and those with the processing facilities are authorised to export 30% of raw logs over a
period of ten years.

Nearly all industrial logging and timber exports from DRC appear to be licensed in some way, but
companies have been found to breach the norms and regulations set in the county’s forest code and
other legal texts. However, the government has weak regulatory enforcements. This is because there
is a complete absence of meaningful control by forest authorities, leading to an ‘anarchic situation’
in the sector.

4. Possible Solutions
The government could dedicate more resources to the implementation of deforestation projects and
to ensure that resources to the project are being more effectively used.

We must also find cheap alternative renewable sources of energy for the population(only 10% of the
population has access to electricity), followed by education of the public, and government
assistance in helping the population acquire these alternative renewable sources of energy.

We could additionally dedicate more resources into preventing illegal logging.

5. Sources

https://www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-democratic-republic-congo
https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/congo-basin-rainforest-may-be-gone-by-2100-study-
finds/
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/deforestation-in-drc-threatens-climate-wildlife/984477
https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/congo-basin-rainforest-may-be-gone-by-2100-study-
finds/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deforestation_in_the_Democratic_Republic_of_the_Congo
https://rainforests.mongabay.com/deforestation/2000/DR_Congo.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Agreement
https://www.un.org/esa/forests/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/tests1205.PDF
https://forestlegality.org/risk-tool/country/democratic-republic-congo
https://www.google.com.sg/url?
sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjh2bTd66vrAhW1heYKHX7nD
Q4QFjAAegQIBBAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.globalwitness.org%2Fdocuments%2F1
8008%2FExporting_impunity_Eng.pdf&usg=AOvVaw3GYkxcG6HAm4eWioFLUIhD