The government’s ongoing push involves a sweeping licensing round for 52 new oil blocks, which follows three blocks previously awarded. According to a comprehensive new report titled Forests to Frontlines: Oil Expansion Threats in the DRC—published by Earth Insight in partnership with local and international environmental organizations—this expansion directly threatens 64 percent of the country’s pristine forest ecosystems.
“Towering rainforest canopies, winding river systems, and vast carbon-rich peatlands make the Democratic Republic of Congo one of the most ecologically significant places on Earth,” a press release from Earth Insight stated, underscoring the global stakes of the DRC’s energy policy.
As the custodian of the second-largest tropical rainforest on the planet, the DRC harbors an astonishing wealth of biodiversity. Elephants, great apes, endemic bird species, and thousands of distinct plant species thrive within its undisturbed ecosystems. Furthermore, the country’s Cuvette Centrale peatlands store massive amounts of carbon, making them an indispensable weapon in the global fight against climate change. The landscapes that form this complex mosaic of life also serve as an essential lifeline for millions of people, supporting local livelihoods, preserving cultural identity, and bolstering regional climate resilience.
However, the newly designated oil blocks intersect heavily with these irreplaceable areas. According to the report, the blocks overlap with roughly 20.5 million acres of protected areas, 21.3 million acres of Key Biodiversity Areas, and 165.1 million acres of intact tropical forests. Additionally, 72 percent of the recently established Kivu-Kinshasa Green Corridor intersects directly with the targeted oil concessions, throwing the region’s long-term ecological integrity and its credibility as a sustainable climate solution into deep uncertainty.
The Cuvette Centrale, recognized as the largest tropical peatland complex in the world and a monumental carbon sink storing roughly 30 gigatons of carbon, faces extreme risk of degradation as a significant portion of its expanse is folded into the new oil blocks.
Beyond the environmental and climatic ramifications, the auctions carry profound human consequences. It is estimated that the expansive area currently slated for auction is home to approximately 39 million people, including numerous forest-based and Indigenous communities who depend entirely on the tropical forests and river systems for their survival, sustenance, and cultural continuity.
Pascal Mirindi, campaign coordinator for Notre Terre Sans Pétrole, voiced strong opposition to the sweeping concessions, highlighting a glaring contradiction in national policy.
“Imagine: 39 million Congolese people… and 64% of our forests could be directly affected by the awarding of these oil blocks,” Mirindi said, as reported by The Guardian. “And all this while the government is promoting the Kivu-Kinshasa ecological corridor. Where is the logic? Where is the coherence? We are reminding our leaders that the Congolese people are the primary sovereign. We will not remain silent while certain people organise themselves to sell off our future.”
The environmental community views the current auction round as a drastic escalation of a similarly contentious policy launched in 2022, when the DRC government initiated a controversial auction for 30 oil and gas blocks that likewise overlapped with protected areas, peatlands, and Indigenous lands. Conservationists argue that this wider push flies in the face of national environmental goals and undermines global commitments to biodiversity preservation and climate action.
“The ecological health of the DRC is deeply intertwined with the health of the planet, playing an outsized role in regulating the global climate and preserving biodiversity. Yet despite strong national and international opposition, the DRC has continued to pursue fossil fuel development across ecologically sensitive areas,” Earth Insight noted in its findings.
The organization emphasized that the latest licensing round calls the country’s stated dedication to environmental protection and social progress into serious question. Rather than steering the national economy away from carbon-intensive industries, the government has dramatically widened the geographical reach of oil concessions, imperiling the Congo Basin.
With more than half of the country—representing 53 percent of its total land area—now covered by oil blocks, researchers warn of severe disruptions to local livelihoods and traditional lands of immense cultural and spiritual significance. Such a trajectory, critics argue, undercuts the nation’s broader potential for sustainable, long-term development.
To avert what they describe as an unfolding ecological and humanitarian crisis, the authors of the Forests to Frontlines report have outlined a series of urgent recommendations aligned with the demands of Congolese civil society. The report calls on the DRC government and its international partners to cancel the 2025 licensing round immediately and halt all future hydrocarbon expansion within the country.
Furthermore, the report urges that the rights of local communities and Indigenous peoples be fully respected and legally upheld, and that international donor support and financing be strictly aligned with the nation’s existing pledges to biodiversity conservation and climate resilience. It also stresses the absolute necessity of involving local communities and civil society organizations in environmental governance, decision-making processes, and ongoing monitoring, backed by robust guarantees of transparency and meaningful participation.
“Oil and gas development in these fragile ecosystems would have devastating impacts on biodiversity, communities, land rights and the global fight against climate change,” said Anna Bebbington, an Earth Insight research manager, highlighting the international urgency of the situation.
The report was produced through a collaborative partnership between Earth Insight, the DRC-based Coalition des Organisations de la Société Civile pour le Suivi des Reformes et de Action Publique (CORAP), Our Land Without Oil, and Rainforest Foundation UK, reflecting a unified front of local and global advocates standing in defense of the Congo Basin’s future.
