Oil exploration in the Republic of Congo’s Conkouati-Douli National Park threatens the local biodiversity, communities and environment, according to U.S.-based NGO Earth Insight. The Conkouati oil block was awarded by the ROC government to a Chinese company at the start of this year, just six weeks after the government had accepted $50 million from the European Union and the Bezos Fund to protect its forests, the latest in a series of similar international agreements. In a report published in June, Earth Insight, which works with affected communities to produce maps of at-risk areas of land and water, shows that the oil block occupies a large chunk of the protected area and the buffer zone of the park. This nature reserve is located “where the rainforest meets the ocean,” on the Atlantic coast at the western edge of the ROC. Conkouati-Douli covers an area of nearly 8,000 square kilometers (3,100 square miles), of which 46% is terrestrial area and the rest marine. It’s rich in biodiversity, home to western gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla), forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) and Atlantic humpback dolphins (Sousa teuszii), as well as endangered central chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) and other threatened species. Earth Insight’s report shows that the Conkouati oil exploration license covers an area of 1,600 km2 (620 mi2), of which 930 km2 (360 mi2) overlaps with the national park, covering more than a quarter of its terrestrial portion. Rights group Amnesty International reports that around 7,000 people live near the oil block, with the highest…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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South Africa Today – Environment
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