The Democratic Republic of Congo recently participated in the Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the African Development Fund (ADF), which took place in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, from May 22 to 26, 2023. The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Planning of the DRC, Judith Suminwa, led the Congolese delegation on this occasion and congratulated the AfDB for the quality of its event and thanked the Egyptian government for its warm welcome.
Mrs. Judith Suminwa also underlined the contribution of the DRC in the fight against climate change, in particular with regard to the preservation of tropical forests. The DRC has about 150 million hectares of tropical forests, or 61% of the Congo Basin forests, which are essential for the absorption of CO2 and the regulation of the global climate. The DRC also has peatlands that store more than 40 billion tons of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of two years of global greenhouse gas emissions.
As a solution country, the DRC also holds 10% of the planet’s freshwater reserve, 52% of Africa’s freshwater reserve and strategic minerals necessary for the energy transition, such as cobalt, coltan and titan. The Deputy Prime Minister stressed the importance of the governance of forests and minerals for sustainable exploitation that respects sustainable development.
The DRC believes that it is committed to improving the sustainable management of its forests and to the local processing of its minerals for the energy transition. However, she pleaded for an increased mobilization of financing and technical assistance to help her in this task. She also emphasized the need to further promote renewable energies through integrative projects.
Finally, she said that the DRC has turned to the exploitation of oil blocks to finance the development of the Congolese people. However, she assured that through innovative techniques, pollution could be avoided to preserve biodiversity.
The DRC seems aware of the global issues related to pollution and environmental degradation, and is determined to play its part in the fight against climate change while working for its economic development.