10 October 2011: The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has released a post-conflict assessment of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), underlining the significance of DRC’s natural and mineral resources. The assessment, titled “The Democratic Republic of the Congo: Post-Conflict Environmental Assessment UN Environment Programme Synthesis for Policy Makers,” also underscores the need to urgently address multiple pressures on natural resources.

The study highlights numerous threats, including increased deforestation, species depletion, heavy metal pollution and land degradation from mining. It also underscores the acute drinking water crisis faced by DRC, leaving an estimated 51 million Congolese without access to potable water.

According to UNEP, most of DRC’s environmental degradation is not irreversible, and the report notes substantial progress achieved in strengthening environmental governance. Other key findings include that DRC has: the highest level of biodiversity in Africa, yet 190 species are classified as critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species; tropical rainforests that account for more than half of Africa’s forest resources, making them a critical global ecosystem service provider and a potential source of up to US$900 million in annual revenue up to 2030 through REDD+ (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries, as well as conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of carbon stocks); the largest artisanal mining workforce in the world, with mineral reserves estimated to be worth US$24 trillion; artisanal gold mining operations that use around 15 tons of mercury annually; and a rain-fed small-scale agriculture that is particularily vulnerable to climate change. [Publication: The Democratic Republic of the Congo: Post-Conflict Environmental Assessment UN Environment Programme Synthesis for Policy Makers] [UNEP Press Release]