RegenerateDRC is a vital initiative building a network to connect, protect, and restore parts of the Congo Basin, the world's second-largest tropical forest, by empowering local communities in the DRC, currently focused in Idjwi and Goma centered around Lake Kivu. Led by the local NGO DEC (Environmental Rights and Citizenship), in collaboration with ReFiDRC and Yale School of the Environment, this project currently focuses on community-led regenerative reforestation and water sanitation. It aims to build ecological citizenship among local populations through education, capacity building, and direct action. This initiative supports public goods by providing non-excludable and inclusive access to improved environmental health and resources like advocacy efforts that empower as well as educate local communities about regenerative practices and ecosystem protection.
We approach climate advocacy with solutions-oriented optimism. Our small team is composed of on-the-ground climate activists and remote volunteers based in the U.S. and South Asia working towards bridging the gap between institutional climate work, the Refi movement, and grassroots activists. Our network begins with members of DEC (A local organization in DRC), Refi DRC, Redemption DAO, and Yale School of the Environment — by bringing these disparate pieces together, we are experimenting with how ordinary strangers with a common goal meet and respond to our stakes in the climate crisis and environmental justice.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is home to the beautiful Congo Basin, our planet’s second-largest tropical forest where preliminary data measures that it’s the largest carbon sink in the world. It cradles some of the oldest, densest trees and plants that store 32 billion tons of carbon, 10,000 tropical plant species, and nearly 150 distinct ethnic groups who are all intimately linked to the wellbeing of this quiet climate regulator.
In 2022, the DRC government announced that it was auctioning off 27 million hectares of the basin to fossil fuel companies, driven by economic interests. These blocks include mining rights in the world’s largest peatlands that store around 30 billion tons of carbon — 7.5 billion tons shy of global emissions in 2022 — which get released into the atmosphere when disturbed.
International and Congolese environmental
organizations, indigenous peoples of the rainforest, and local villagers have all rallied against the auction.
Although President Tshisekedi’s government passed a new law to address discrimination and abuses against indigenous forest people, no efforts have been made to gain the Indigenous communities’ consent for the oil auction or to address their displacement.
On Lake Kivu, two companies have already won the market and are ready for exploitation of gas blocks.
Studies have established that Lake Kivu, whose methane gas reserves are estimated at 60 billion cubic meters, could generate 700 MW over a period of 50 years.
Out of 32 blocks initially selected, calls for tenders for the allocation of rights will be launched on July 28 for 27 for 3 gas blocks by Israeli businessman Dan Gertler. The three gas blocks are located in Lake Kivu.
Note that maintaining the biodiversity of Congolese forests, their genetic potential and their contribution to the environmental balance of the planet also constitute global issues which go beyond the strictly Congolese framework and underline the relevance of regional and international mobilization. Forests precede man, but deserts follow them as René De Chateaubriand says.
This reality is experienced day and night in the island territory of Idjwi in South Kivu in the DRC. The Nyamusisi forest remains in history because its destruction began in 1994 under pressure from Rwandan refugees. This forest was a biodiversity reserve with an area of 44km2 while the entire island has an area of 310km2, almost 14% of the area of Idjwi Island. The forest species have all disappeared, only some 26 primates have recently been discovered in the rocks and the process of restoring their habitat is underway. In 2004, land conflicts between the local population and local authorities caused the disappearance of the Nyamusisi forest.
We are in urgent need to build trust networks with actors on-the-ground to reimagine the possibilities of collective grassroots climate justice organization. Researchers on ethical engagement with indigenous communities forward “community-based research” which emphasizes on forming “collaborative relationships with the community and encouraging the participation of community members in the process of creating knowledge.”
Following this approach, we partnered with Emmanuel Ndimwiza, who is based in South Kivu and serves as the founder and organizer of the Droits Environnement et Citoyenneté (Environmental Rights and Citizenship) to co-imagine what 3-6 months of radical organizing in 2024 would look like.
Emmanuel states Chief Seattle said in 1854: when the last tree has been cut down, the last river poisoned, the last fish sinned, then we will understand that money cannot be eaten. The forests of the DRC are a common heritage of inestimable value to the population of humanity. They must be managed with the aim of reducing poverty and protecting the environment. This constitutes a great responsibility both for the Congolese government and the international communities.
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Democratic Republic of Congo, Africa
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