Hydrocarbon Governance and Environmental Protection in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Abstract

The Congolese hydrocarbons sector is one of the key areas of the national economy and constitutes one of the main resources for financing the state budget. However, the uncontrolled exploitation of hydrocarbons can have consequences on the environment as a whole, which is a natural resource essential to human life and to terrestrial and marine biodiversity. To this end, the first principle of the Stockholm Declaration adopted by the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment states that “Man has a fundamental right to freedom, equality and adequate conditions of life, in an environment of a quality that permits a life of dignity and well-being. He has a solemn duty to protect and improve the environment for present and future generations”. From the above, the protection of the environment is part of the international commitments of States to promote, in particular, sustainable development. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), on the other hand, the lack of an adequate policy on hydrocarbon exploitation and environmental protection has enormous repercussions and unfortunate consequences on the entire Congolese population despite the absolute poverty that the latter is already experiencing. This paper awaits the implementation of adequate proposals to enable policy makers to know where to start in order to ensure sound hydrocarbon governance and sustainable environmental protection in the DRC. It is also a question of demonstrating that sound governance of hydrocarbons and environmental protection requires, in particular, the participation and efforts of everyone: first of all a political will, then a strong involvement of the public authorities, of the companies which invest in the hydrocarbons sector, and a change in the mentalities of the citizens for the integral and sustainable development of the DRC in line with its hydrocarbon potential.