Illegal gold mining drives deforestation in DRC reserve home to ‘African unicorn’
Illegal gold mining drives deforestation in DRC reserve home to ‘African
unicorn’
Ruth Kamnitzer, Mongabay
November 26, 2024
See link
https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/illegal-gold-mining-drives-deforestation-in-drc-reserve-home-to-african-unicorn/
for photos.
Illegal mining inside the Okapi Wildlife Reserve in northeastern Democratic
Republic of the Congo (DRC) continues to spread, satellite data show,
driving environmental devastation. Deforestation stayed at a near-record
high in 2023, and preliminary data for 2024 shows that clearing continues
apace.
The Okapi Wildlife Reserve covers 14,000 square kilometers (5,405 square
miles) of Congo Basin rainforest. It protects an astounding array of
globally significant wildlife populations: a fifth of all okapi (Okapia
johnstoni); the DRC’s largest populations of forest elephants (Loxodonta
cyclotis) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes); the highest diversity of
primate species in Africa; and more. It’s also critically important to
Indigenous Mbuti and Efe forest peoples who hunt and gather forest products
within certain zones.
With climate change, the reserve might become an even more crucial haven
for biodiversity. Recent research places the reserve in the top 40% of
terrestrial protected areas most resilient to extreme warming. The authors
say protecting such refugia is a “no regret action.”
Yet deforestation, pollution and insecurity — primarily driven by
semi-industrial and artisanal gold mining — are steadily chipping away at
the integrity of the reserve.
Deforestation has been rising steadily for the past decade, peaking at
1,920 hectares of forest lost in 2022, according to the Global Forest Watch
(GFW) platform. Another 1,890 hectares of forest cover was lost in 2023,
roughly three-quarters of which was primary forest.
Deforestation is concentrated along the Ituri river and National Route 4,
in the southern portion of the reserve. Satellite images clearly show
clearing in the forest and along the Ituri river, which has been widened
and dredged from its natural course. New incursions along the reserve’s
western border started developing in the middle of last year. Throughout
2024, the GFW platform has shown near-real time deforestation alerts
fanning out from existing mining areas, and spreading north of the main
road.
There are at least 18 mining sites within the reserve, according to a 2022
University of Antwerp policy brief, with 15,000 to 25,000 artisanal miners,
as well as semi-industrial operations where dredges run constantly. Among
the most intensive are those at Muchacha, run by Chinese-owned Kimia Mining.
“[T]he trees have all been cut, and of course the river has been polluted
quite heavily because of the chemicals they use during the mining process.
It’s a real mess,” John Lukas, president of the Okapi Conservation Project,
an NGO, told Mongabay in 2023.
A 2023 report by the International Peace Information Service (IPIS), an
independent research institute, documents the toll of artisanal gold mining
on the environment and communities in the Mabasa region, 20% of which lies
within the Okapi Wildlife Reserve. The report is part of a Partnership for
the Development of Eastern Congo (P-DEC) initiative, a USAID funded project
“to restore equilibrium” to this region.
In 2022, the investigators visited 12 artisanal mining sites along the
Ituri River inside the reserve, as well as another 29 sites west of the
reserve, including some company-held concessions.
The investigators cataloged numerous environmental impacts, which extended
beyond the footprint of the mine sites.
They found that miners were cutting trees for firewood, construction, and
charcoal, driving deforestation. At more than half the mining sites,
restaurants frequented by miners sold bushmeat from poaching. At sites
within the Okapi Wildlife Reserve, bushmeat was especially common, with
restaurants at 10 out of 12 sites serving smoked monkey meat, duikers and
other species.
Mercury was used to process gold in more than 90% of mining sites, both
inside and near the reserve, which is a more than three times the rate in
provinces like North and South Kivu, according to the report. Mercury is a
potent neurotoxin, with no safe level of exposure, yet was frequently used
very near the rivers and homes, often without protective equipment and
sometimes by children, the report found. Once it gets into water sources or
soils, mercury rapidly bio-accumulates up the food chain, putting miners,
the wider population and wildlife, at risk.
The majority of artisanal miners were men from neighboring provinces,
though 8% were children under 15. The report noted the poor working
conditions at all mining sites visited. However, the majority of the
accidents reported were at sites controlled by Kimia Mining, inside the
reserve, with most at the Muchacha site.
Continuing Insecurity
Mining in the reserve isn’t new; nor is conflict. In 1997, just a year
after the Okapi Wildlife Reserve was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site,
it was placed on the World Heritage Sites in Danger list.
Armed groups have operated in the reserve for two decades, often
controlling mining sites and engaging in deadly skirmishes with Congolese
Institute for the Conervation of Nature (ICCN) eco-guards. According to a
post on an Okapi Wildlife Reserve social media account, in September a
group of around 60 individuals armed with machetes and arrows attacked ICCN
eco-guards at an illegal mining site inside the reserve, injuring two. This
follows an attack in June, in which an ICCN eco-guard was killed. In 2012
elephant poachers killed seven people, including two eco-guards, as well
as 13 captive Okapi, inside the reserve.
In the DRC, mining is strictly prohibited within protected areas, but
ongoing disagreement over the boundaries of the reserve is complicating
this already volatile security situation.
The boundaries of the reserve are clearly laid out in the 1992 ministerial
decree, and follow natural or topographical features. But a map published
by Congolese Mining Cadastre (CAMI) shows some borders running randomly
through the forest, significantly shrinking the size of the reserve. As
such, areas clearly within the 1992 boundaries are designated as mining or
exploration concessions on CAMI’s online portal, with licenses issued to
Kimia Mining, Ratel Metal Congo SARL and MCC Resources SARL.
To resolve this disagreement, the UNESCO World Heritage Centre has
facilitated collaboration between high levels of the DRC government, the
ICCN and CAMI, amongst others, who have formed a joint committee. However,
progress has been slow, in part due to changes in leadership at ICCN, notes
a 2024 UNESCO State of Conservation report for the reserve.
Meanwhile, the Chinese-owned Kimia Mining and others hire “undisciplined”
members of the 31st Brigade of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic
of the Congo (FADRC) as private security, according to the IPIS report.
These FADRC members reportedly set up roadblocks, harass and tax artisanal
miners and block government inspectors from reaching the sites. Civil
society organizations report altercations between the ICCN and FADRC
forces, the report notes.
The IPIS report concludes that “[t]o have an impact on the region’s
stability, local, national and provincial advocacy initiatives are
necessary in order to put a stop to Kimia Mining’s activities in the OWR
and to demand mining site rehabilitation at the expense of the company.” It
also recommends that artisanal miners be offered financial incentives to
relocate to designated zones outside the reserve.
Kimia Mining does not appear to have an online presence, and contact info
for the company could not be found.
Against this backdrop of violence and exploitation, are the families living
and farming in villages in and around the reserve.
For over 30 years the Okapi Wildlife Project, a non-profit, has worked with
these communities, including Indigenous Mbuti and Efe peoples. Communities
in the reserve generally respect the allotted agricultural zones and
appreciate the advantages that forest protection brings, Lukas told
Mongabay in 2023. The Okapi Wildlife Project’s agroforestry, education and
income generation programs help improve people’s quality of life, and offer
alternatives to the over-exploitation of the reserve’s natural resources.
“There is a positive side in that we’ve kept a lot of forest intact,” Lukas
said. “And there are communities that are very protective of the forest.
And they just really think it’s the way it should be.”