Increase the Labor Market or Protect the Environment: Which Will the Democratic Republic of Congo’s President Tshisekedi Choose?

By Julia Moran

Earlier this year, Félix Tshisekedi was sworn in for a second term as President of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).[1] Importantly, when President Tshisekedi was first elected in 2019, it was regarded as the “first peaceful transition of power in the country since independence in 1960.”[2] However, this 2024 election has sparked more controversy, with many irregularities occurring and opponents refusing to recognize the results.[3] In a joint statement, nine opposition candidates expressed that they “categorically reject the sham elections . . . and its results . . . .”[4] Nevertheless, the electoral commission has dismissed these concerns, and President Tshisekedi was sworn in for another five years on January 20, 2024.[5]

As part of President Tshisekedi’s campaign for his first term in 2019, he vowed to make the DRC prosperous through economic growth and increased educational opportunities.[6] His first term partially advanced these goals, with school enrollment having increased by more than five million students.[7] However, the economy is still struggling.[8] The DRC is one of the five poorest nations in the world.[9] Approximately sixty-two percent of the DRC’s one hundred-million people survive on less than a dollar a day.[10] An estimated twenty-six million face food shortages.[11] Approximately seven million have been displaced from their homes.[12] In addressing these concerns at his 2024 re-election ceremony, President Tshisekedi stated, “I am aware of your expectations . . . [a] goal of this new five-year term is to create more jobs.”[13]

The main source of employment in the DRC comes from its vast natural resources, mineral wealth, and agriculture.[14] The DRC produces approximately seventy percent of the world’s cobalt, and it has many other desirable minerals, such as copper, as well.[15] Cobalt and copper have come into high demand recently, with cobalt being the main metal component used in batteries for electric vehicles and copper being another important mineral in renewable-energy practices.[16] While the United States has attempted to receive more access to these minerals, President Tshisekedi, hoping to grow the DRC’s economy, has been attempting to keep the minerals and jobs associated with them local.[17] For example, recently President Tshisekedi “has pushed for a review of the country’s mining contracts with China so it can keep a larger share of its vast mineral wealth.”[18]

President Tshisekedi was re-elected as the Democratic Republic of Congo’s President during what might be a crucial term for the country’s economy and world’s environment. Photo courtesy of npr.org.

In conjunction with these vast minerals, the DRC is also home to part of the Congo Basin, which “makes up one of the most important wilderness areas left on Earth.”[19] Not only is this tropical forest rich in biodiversity, it also captures hundreds of millions of tons of warming greenhouse gases per year.[20] Thus, this tropical forest is instrumental in protecting against climate change.[21] Nevertheless, a major threat to this tropical forest is the growing demand for its natural resources, including “wood, oil and minerals such as diamonds, gold and coltan (used to make cell phones).”[22]

With all these vast minerals, the DRC undoubtedly has a large environmental impact.[23] Some scholars refer to President Tshisekedi’s second term as playing a “crucial role” in determining the world’s fight against climate change.[24] However, with his vow to increase jobs, there is concern that logging and mining practices in the DRC will increase, and the environment will bear the long-term consequences.[25] How President Tshisekedi focused his 2024 campaign is evidence of this concern.[26] There was very little discussion or concern shown for the environment, rather “the campaign focused on the economy, education, healthcare and instability in the country’s east.”[27]

President Tshisekedi has begun to make some environmentally sound decisions, such as creating carbon credit initiatives to preserve the DRC’s forests.[28] However, some question whether this is enough. Companies are vying to harvest the DRC’s minerals and President Tshisekedi also, “to the horror of environmental activists[,]” began a bidding program for oil and gas exploration permits.[29] President Tshisekedi continues to defend such decisions to allow for harvesting of the DRC’s minerals as “necessary to help lift Congolese out of poverty.”[30] But, how long will this “necessary help” last, and can the environment sustain it? In 2021, the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative Index “ranked the DRC as the fourth least ready country to address climate shocks and the seventeenth most vulnerable country to climate change in the world.”[31] Many areas in the DRC are already beginning to experience the environmental impact of climate warming, with floods and landslides throughout the country.[32] Notably, the Congo River is at its highest water level in over sixty years, with its flooding killing more than three hundred people in the DRC and Congo Republic in the past few months.[33]

Overall, there is undoubtedly a tension between the need to increase the DRC’s economy and labor market and the ensuing environmental impacts that may occur in addressing this need. How President Tshisekedi decides to balance these considerations over the next five years will have major global and environmental consequences that will impact the future of green development.[34] “With its abundant resources and credible, strong governance, Congo has the potential to become an African powerhouse.”[35] Will it?  

[1] Ange Adihe Kasongo, Congolese President Tshisekedi sworn in for second term after disputed vote, Reuters (Jan. 20, 2024), https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/congolese-president-tshisekedi-sworn-second-term-2024-01-20/.

[2] Basillioh Rukanga, Félix Tshisekedi: DR Congo’s re-elected president, BBC News (Dec. 31, 2023), https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-67718533.

[3] Ange Adihe Kasongo, supra note 1.

[4] Alexandra Wexier, Congo’s President Has Been Re-Elected. His Climate Policy Will Have Global Significance, Wall St. J. (Dec. 31, 2023), https://www.wsj.com/world/africa/congos-president-has-been-re-elected-his-climate-policy-will-have-global-significance-1f7cdc76?mod=world_feat6_africa_pos2.

[5] Ange Adihe Kasongo, supra note 1.

[6] Basillioh Rukanga, supra note 2.

[7] Id.

[8] Id.

[9] Democratic Republic of Congo Overview, World Bank, (https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/drc/overview#:~:text=These%20features%20have%20not%20changed,in%20SSA%20lives%20in%20DRC. (last visited Feb. 4, 2024).

[10] Ange Adihe Kasongo, supra note 1.

[11] Alexandra Wexier, supra note 4.

[12] Id.

[13] Ange Adihe Kasongo, supra note 1.

[14] Basillioh Rukanga, supra note 2.

[15] Alexandra Wexier, supra note 4.

[16] Id.; Michael J. Kavanagh & Antony Sguazzin, A Resource Giant Votes With Role in Climate Future: Next Africa, Bloomberg (Dec. 19, 2023), https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2023-12-19/cobalt-rich-congo-votes-with-crucial-role-in-climate-change?embedded-checkout=true.

[17] Alexandra Wexier, supra note 4.

[18] Basillioh Rukanga, supra note 2.

[19] Congo Rainforest and Basin, World Wildlife Fund, https://www.worldwildlife.org/places/congo-basin (last visited Feb. 4, 2024).

[20] Michael J. Kavanagh & Antony Sguazzin, supra note 16.

[21] Id.

[22] Congo Rainforest and Basin, supra note 19.

[23] Congo’s Next President Will Be a Key Voice in Green Energy Talks, Bloomberg (Dec. 19, 2023), https://www.energyconnects.com/news/renewables/2023/december/congo-s-next-president-will-be-a-key-voice-in-green-energy-talks/.

[24] Id.

[25] Congo Rainforest and Basin, supra note 19.

[26] Alexandra Wexier, supra note 4.

[27] Id.

[28] Congo’s Next President Will Be a Key Voice in Green Energy Talks, supra note 23.

[29] Id.

[30] Congo’s Next President Will Be a Key Voice in Green Energy Talks, supra note 23.

[31] Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Climate Change Country Profile, U.S. Agency for Int’l Dev. (Nov. 29, 2023), https://www.usaid.gov/climate/country-profiles/democratic-republic-congo#:~:text=The%202021%20Notre%20Dame%20Global,the%20impacts%20of%20climate%20change.

[32] Alexandra Wexier, supra note 4.

[33] Ange Adihe Kasongo & Benoit Nyemba, Hundreds dead as Congo River basin submerged by generational floods, Reuters (Jan. 11, 2024), https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/hundreds-dead-congo-river-basin-submerged-by-generational-floods-2024-01-11/.

[34] Congo’s Next President Will Be a Key Voice in Green Energy Talks, supra note 23.

[35] Michael J. Kavanagh & Antony Sguazzin, supra note 16.