Greenpeace accuses UN Deputy Secretary-General of greenwashing an “ecocidal oil permit” in Conkouati-Douli National Park in the Republic of Congo
Greenpeace accuses UN Deputy Secretary-General of greenwashing an “ecocidal oil permit” in Conkouati-Douli National Park in the Republic of Congo
Last month Congolese human rights and environmental NGOs called on donors to suspend funding of Conkouati-Douli until the oil permit is cancelled.
In January 2024, the Republic of Congo approved oil exploration in Conkouati-Douli National Park. The 1999 Decree that established the park specifically bans oil exploration and exploitation inside the park and its buffer zone.
Nevertheless, the Council of Ministers awarded a permit to China Oil Natural Gas Overseas Holding United Group.
The oil exploration approval came just six weeks after the Republic of Congo signed a US$50 million forest protection deal with the EU, France, the Bezos Earth Fund, the Rob Walton Foundation, Conservation International, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Wildlife Conservation Society and WWF provide technical support in managing the national park.
In 2021, French NGO Noé signed a 20-year agreement to manage the national park.
One week later, the Republic of Congo’s Minister of Mines and Geology, Pierre Oba, gave a 1,500 hectare gold prospecting permit in Conkouati-Douli’s buffer zone to Chinese oil company, Zhi Guo Pétrole.
On 21 February 2024, Greenpeace put out a press release highlighting the “deafening silence” from the donors that are funding the protection of the country’s forests.
A visit from UN Deputy Secretary-General
On 6 July 2024, Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations visited Conkouati-Douli National Park. According to a UN statement about the trip, the purpose of the visit to Conouati-Douli was “to draw attention to the importance of biodiversity conservation, research, community engagement and ecotourism as catalysts for a green transition to sustainable development”.
But Mohammed said nothing about the oil permit or about the gold permit. Instead, she praised the government’s conservation record.
On 19 July 2024, Greenpeace Africa put out a press release calling on the UN Deputy Secretary-General to denounce the government’s award of the “ecocidal oil permit”.
The press release is posted here in full:
In Congo-Brazzaville UN Deputy Secretary-General Greenwashes an Ecocidal Oil Permit
Greenpeace Africa, 19 July 2024
Kinshasa, 19 July 2024 – Following her visit to the Republic of Congo’s Conkouati-Douli National Park on 6 July, Greenpeace Africa calls on the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations Amina Mohammed to denounce the government’s decision to award an oil and gas exploration permit there last February.
None of the social media around the photo-op or media “coverage” of it includes mention of the ecocidal permit.
In a long video posted by Congo’s Forest Economy Minister Rosalie Matondo, who accompanied her with the Tourism Minister, Ms. Mohammed applauds the government’s conservation record. In the video, Ms. Matondo states that when the government vaunts its supposed green credentials, she has “the impression people don’t believe us.” She gloats : “What better ambassador could we hope for for our country? This visit is important in the eyes of the world.”
Local media reported that Ms. Mohammed, who previously served as Nigeria’s controversial Environment Minister, came away from the visit convinced that Congo is “avant-gardist about forest conservation.”
Last month thirteen Congolese human rights and environmental NGOs called on donors to suspend conservation financing of Conkouati-Douli until the oil and gas permit is canceled.
Conkouati-Douli is the country’s most biodiverse protected area, and home to several thousand people.
The permit was awarded only two months after Congo signed a $50 million forest protection deal with donors at COP28.
The government has failed to disclose the amount of the signature bonus the little-known firm “China Oil Natural Gas Overseas Holding United” was required to pay according to the terms of the 8 February award decree, nor the identity of the firm’s shareholders.
From 2 to 5 July the UN and Congo co-organized an “International Conference on Afforestation and Reforestation” in Brazzaville, sponsored by multinational loggers and the carbon offsetting partner of TotalEnergies, Forêt Resources Management, among others.
Donor greenwashing continued on 12 July, with the EU ambassador stating after a meeting with the Environment Minister that Congo “conserves well” its “immense, fantastic” forests. In his remarks, he mentions Conkouati as one of three EU-financed national parks in the country he’s enjoyed visiting…
Earlier in the month, after a visit to a peatland zone near Brazzaville, the President of COP29 tweeted: “Preserving peatlands will play an important role in limiting the impact of #ClimateChange and to keep the 1.5°C goal within reach.”
Last April Congo’s Oil Minister signed a production sharing agreement with the Société africaine de recherche pétrolière et de distribution (SARPD-OIL) for a 9,392 km2 oil block in the middle of the Central Cuvette peatlands, in the north of the country.
Greenpeace Afrique reiterates its call for the cancellation of the oil exploration permit in the Conkouati-Douli national park, and calls on international donors to firmly remind the Congolese government to put people’s well-being before its own interests.
Thank you, Chris, for this bombshell report! Good on Greenpeace! I was at the paint store today, actually trying to buy some green paint! They said the last pallet had just been shipped out to Africa. Now I know why! But why not, for the Congo? Get all the marvelous funds for the post-card forest, sell the minerals out from under it (wood floats, you know), sell the rocks, sell the air above it, and as sticks fall from the trees, grind them up for paper to print more money on, sell offsets for the trees you didn't cut down to make paper, grind the rocks to absorb CO2 and sell offsets for that, and sell tours so the world can come see extractavist capitalism at its best!