On May 2, 2025, during a Council of Ministers meeting, the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) announced the opening of 52 new oil blocks in the heart of the Congo Basin. The decision has sparked a wave of indignation from both national and international civil society. In a joint press release issued on May 5 in Moanda, the coalition Notre Terre Sans Pétrole (“Our Land Without Oil”)—which brings together 176 Congolese and international organizations—denounced what they call a “destructive choice by the government.”
According to the signatories, this decision is a complete contradiction at a time when the world is facing a climate emergency. They describe it as a blatant betrayal of the DRC’s climate commitments, including those under the Paris Agreement. While the country presents itself as a “solution country” in the fight against climate change and seeks to benefit from carbon credit mechanisms, this large-scale oil expansion in one of the world’s most critical carbon sinks constitutes, in their words, “a major inconsistency.” These projects directly endanger vast, carbon-rich forests and vital biodiversity. The coalition further condemns the involvement of the Ministry of Environment in the project evaluation process, calling it a greenwashing attempt designed to hide a fundamentally destructive policy.
Even more concerning is the fact that the designated oil blocks significantly overlap with the Kivu-Kinshasa Green Corridor (CVKK), a flagship ecological restoration and sustainable development initiative. According to the coalition, this overlap could jeopardize years of work and international investment:
“This overlap threatens to undermine the financing and partnerships tied to the project and discredit all initiatives meant to present the DRC as a climate leader.” The coalition questions how the government can claim to champion the global ecological transition while simultaneously orchestrating the destruction of one of the planet’s last intact tropical forest bastions.
The organizations also highlight the catastrophic legacy of oil exploitation in Moanda, in the Kongo Central province, which they consider a cautionary tale. Moanda has become a symbol of extractivist failure: chronic pollution of land and water, irreversible damage to marine and coastal biodiversity, increased disease, community conflict, and above all, a complete absence of benefits for local populations. The coalition warns:
“Replicating this model on a large scale in the Congo Basin would mean sacrificing local communities and Indigenous peoples on the altar of illusory, short-term, and fundamentally unjust development.” The groups also draw attention to a failed oil licensing round in 2022, which failed to attract interest from the industry due to the unviable nature of the proposed projects. They argue that nothing has changed—except that the environmental and financial context has worsened. Re-launching the same initiative in 2025, they say, only exposes the DRC to another failure.
Instead of continuing down this destructive path, the coalition calls on the DRC to adopt a truly sustainable development model rooted in the preservation and enhancement of its forests. Their demands are clear and non-negotiable: an immediate halt to the sale of the 52 new oil blocks, cancellation of the three blocks already awarded, and the declaration of a full moratorium on all oil and gas exploration and exploitation across the country.
Finally, the 176 organizations send a strong message to the international community—donors, multilateral agencies, and companies—urging them not to fund, support, or participate in these projects, which they say betray the Congolese people’s aspirations for peace, justice, and dignity. Through this collective statement, a broad swath of national and international civil society is sounding the alarm. This is more than a warning—it is an act of resistance against a vision of development rooted in extraction, destruction, and short-term profits. If this policy is maintained, the DRC—and indeed the planet—will move one step closer to irreversible environmental collapse.
History will remember this moment: that instead of protecting one of the Earth’s most precious ecological treasures, the Congolese government chose to sell it to oil interests. Oil may come and go, but the damage will remain.
By Franck zongwe lukama
