DRC Oil Expansion Sparks Alarm Over Forests, Climate, Rights

Activists march in the street of Goma, in the Democratic Republic of Congo to demand climate justice and an end to oil exploration in the Virunga National Park.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) stands on the brink of a profound environmental and social crisis as the government prepares to auction 55 new oil blocks covering more than half the country’s landmass.

Touted as a pathway to economic growth, the move has triggered fierce backlash from scientists, civil society groups, Indigenous leaders, and international conservationists, who warn that the fossil fuel expansion threatens some of the most ecologically and culturally significant landscapes on Earth.

According to a new report by Earth Insight and its partners, titled “Forests to Frontlines: Oil Expansion Threats in the DRC,” the 2025 licensing round—spanning a staggering 124 million hectares—poses catastrophic risks to biodiversity, climate stability, Indigenous rights, and global environmental commitments.

The DRC is home to the world’s second-largest rainforest and the largest tropical peatland complex, the Cuvette Centrale. These ecosystems are not just national treasures—they are global climate regulators, storing billions of tonnes of carbon and sustaining rainfall patterns across Africa. But with 66.8 million hectares of intact forest—64% of the country’s remaining wilderness—now within the new oil block boundaries, experts fear the irreversible collapse of one of Earth’s last ecological strongholds.

“The Congo Basin is nearing an ecological tipping point. Further fragmentation could flip its forests from carbon sinks to carbon sources, triggering climate feedback loops with devastating planetary consequences,” the report warns.

While the DRC government claims to have spared high-profile protected zones like Virunga National Park from direct overlap, the report reveals this is misleading. Roughly 8.3 million hectares of protected areas and 8.6 million hectares of Key Biodiversity Areas remain overlapped by the new oil blocks.

Even blocks positioned just outside protected zones pose significant risks. Road construction, pipeline development, and human encroachment lead to deforestation, habitat fragmentation, and heightened tensions between local communities and conservation authorities.

The report underscores that protection on paper is meaningless if surrounding buffer zones are sacrificed to industrial expansion.

In January 2025, the DRC government launched the Kivu–Kinshasa Green Corridor, a flagship conservation initiative spanning 540,000 km²—an area the size of France. Initially hailed as a breakthrough for landscape-scale conservation, it has since been undermined, with 72% of the corridor now overlapped by newly designated oil blocks.

“The overlap between oil blocks and the Green Corridor undermines the very ecosystems the project was designed to protect. This is a betrayal of community rights, climate action, and biodiversity promises,” said Emmanuel Musuyu, Executive Director of CORAP.

Furthermore, local communities were not properly consulted and now face exclusion under conservation frameworks while being exposed to extractive degradation—with no benefit from either.

Perhaps the report’s most urgent warning centres on the Cuvette Centrale, the largest tropical peatland on Earth, storing an estimated 30 gigatons of carbon—equal to global emissions over three years.

The new oil blocks span nearly the entire DRC portion of these peatlands. Drilling, road-building, and seismic testing threaten to drain the wetlands, exposing carbon-rich peat to oxygen and releasing vast quantities of CO₂ and methane into the atmosphere.

“Even small disturbances in peatlands can trigger runaway emissions. If degraded, they are almost impossible to restore within human timescales,” the report states.

“Peatlands are extremely important ecosystems, and the Cuvette Centrale represents one of the largest terrestrial carbon sinks on the planet. More safeguards are needed to preserve this vital ecosystem,” said Tyson Miller, Executive Director of Earth Insight and report co-author.

Beyond environmental concerns, the expansion endangers nearly 39 million people—almost half the DRC’s population—who live within the newly auctioned oil blocks. These communities depend on forests, rivers, and lands for survival, livelihoods, and cultural identity.

Especially vulnerable are community forests—legally recognised lands governed by local populations. As of mid-2025, over 4 million hectares of such forests exist, with 63% now falling within oil block boundaries.

These forests are not just environmental assets but legal victories and instruments of self-determination. Their incursion violates both national laws and international protections, including the principle of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC).

Contrary to promises of economic benefit, past oil projects show that wealth rarely reaches local communities. Instead, they inherit polluted water, degraded lands, and shattered livelihoods.

“We estimated the number of people living within the new oil block boundaries using 2020 UN-adjusted population raster data (100m resolution) from WorldPop, which employs remote sensing to model populations,” Miller told IPS.

The coastal town of Muanda, home to the DRC’s only active oil operations, serves as a warning. Despite decades of extraction, it remains among the country’s poorest regions. Locals suffer from polluted mangroves, declining fish stocks, and chronic illness—while oil revenues benefit foreign companies and elites.

“Muanda is the least developed oil town in the world. We breathe poisoned air, our natural livelihoods are gone, and there’s no healthcare to treat our illnesses,” said resident Alphonse Khonde.

The DRC risks exporting this failed model across half its territory.

Civil society in Congo is mobilising. In June 2025, a Week of Action brought protests, press briefings, and advocacy efforts from Kinshasa to London. Leading the resistance is the Our Land Without Oil coalition—a network of grassroots groups, Indigenous communities, and legal activists.

“The government cannot claim to be a climate leader while auctioning off our forests and futures,” said Pascal Mirindi, Campaign Coordinator. “We have a choice: dig our grave with oil or build a livable, sovereign future.”

Urgent Recommendations from the Report:

Cancel the 2025 oil licensing round.

Protect the Cuvette Centrale as a non-negotiable conservation zone.

Revoke oil blocks overlapping the Green Corridor.

Uphold FPIC and legal land recognition for Indigenous and local communities.

Shift investment towards low-carbon development, including renewable energy.

Align international finance with climate goals, not fossil fuel expansion.

As the world accelerates climate action, the DRC stands at a crossroads. Will it lead with green ambition or repeat a legacy of resource exploitation?

The fate of the Congo Basin is tied to the fate of the planet. What happens in the DRC will reverberate for generations.