RETHINKING THE JUST TRANSITION IN THE DRC

The demands of indigenous peoples and local communities in the DRC show that the transition as outlined by the Congolese government remains guided by external priorities and too often ignores environmental justice in the DRC. This transition cannot be fair or sustainable for the Congolese people under these conditions, and must refocus on three inseparable requirements: (1) guaranteeing the effective enjoyment by the Congolese people of the ecosystem services (water, forests, soil, biodiversity) on which their livelihoods depend; (2) ensuring their full participation in decisions affecting their territories, from policy design to monitoring and (3) recognising and integrating their organisations, interests and perspectives into the definition and implementation of these policies. This implies considering ecosystems, species and natural processes not only as resources to be exploited,
but as actors to be respected and protected. These three dimensions of environmental justice distribution, participation, and recognition will give local and credible substance to the label of “solutions country.” Without this refocusing, the effects of extractive and polluting activities denounced by the populations will continue to be ignored. Congolese political ecology would then risk to reproduce historical imbalances and colonial and neocolonial dynamics, weakening living environments and undermining the credibility of climate commitments. With this refocusing, on the contrary, it can become a real lever for justice and sustainability, anchored in Congolese realities.