Blessed with minerals essential to the global transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy, and with a tropical forest vital for absorbing greenhouse gases, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) faces a dilemma: extract its exceptional deposits of critical minerals quickly and cheaply, or choose the slower but environmentally sustainable path of responsible mining.
Financial decision-makers usually favor first-mover advantage. Money received now is often worth more than money earned later. For the DRC, which holds large deposits of high-quality copper and cobalt, selling now may seem attractive, but it would undermine conservation efforts that are vital for this delicate landscape.
Why the world wants DRC’s cobalt and copper
The DRC holds between 50 and 60 percent of the world’s cobalt reserves, a key component of the lithium-ion batteries that power most electric vehicles (EVs). The DRC Copperbelt also contains some of the highest-grade copper deposits in the world, and EVs need about four times more copper than conventional cars. Solar and wind projects need around six times more copper than fossil fuel-based systems.
The same minerals are used to make superalloys for aircraft engines and turbine blades, smartphones, and many other renewable energy technologies. Soaring demand is a temptation for the DRC government, for the more than 350 armed groups involved in illegal mineral extraction, and for businesses from the Global North and China eager to profit from the energy transition.
The human cost of DRC mining
Environmental Defenders (ED), a nonprofit focused on conservation and human rights in the Greater Virunga and Ituri landscapes of the DRC and the Murchison-Semliki landscape of western Uganda, carried out research showing that mining intensifies corruption and human rights violations.
ED, whose mission is to create a natural environment that is safe, healthy, and ecologically sustainable for both wildlife and people, found several problems, including the displacement of communities without compensation. For communities that still live off their land and earn some of the lowest incomes in the world, being evicted without compensation is disempowering and pushes many into deeper poverty. Insecurity also leads mining firms to hire private guards. Some of these guards have been accused of raping women.
Mining firms are also accused of polluting water sources by dumping toxic chemicals and using mercury to process gold, despite its health risks. DRC mines have also been linked to child labor, with UNICEF reporting in June 2024 that 361,000 Congolese children were working in copper and cobalt mines.
Mine workers often suffer poor health. They work in dangerous conditions and are underpaid. Exploitation is worst in artisanal mining areas, where powerful political and economic interests stop authorities from acting. It is also a problem in Mambasa and Djugu territories in Ituri province, where large coltan deposits are being actively mined, and in Kolwezi, in Lualaba province.
Conservation efforts in DRC
Of the world’s three largest tropical rainforests, only the Congo Basin still has enough forest to remain a net carbon sink, since the Southeast Asian and Amazon rainforests now emit more carbon than they absorb.
Terra FM, part of ED, has stepped up efforts to equip people with information to advocate for responsible extraction of critical minerals, with the goal of conserving this vital rainforest. ED also helps citizens respond to land grabbing and forced evictions and resist mining firms’ attempts to take more land for expansion.
Through a 10-month project titled Defending and extending transparency and campaigning for new types of disclosure on transition, environmental, and social impact, Terra FM has supported activists targeted for fighting human rights abuses, especially in communities facing forced land sales for mining, logging, and agribusiness.
Samuel Jaryekonga Warom, Communications Director of Environmental Defenders in the Congo Basin, says the program began in 2023 with Cultural Survival to use media and journalism to promote disclosure, transparency, and accountability around transition minerals. Between August 1, 2023, and August 30, 2024, Terra FM produced programming to support a just and sustainable transition to renewable energy as Africa’s role in mining grows.
“We could not allow mining to come at the expense of vulnerable communities, who must be protected by reducing environmental damage and biodiversity loss from mining activities.” — Samuel Jaryekonga Warom, Communications Director, Environmental Defenders
Radio that influenced DRC mining policy
He said the project has since influenced policy at local and national levels, helping ensure that mining regulations protect the environment without harming local people.
In May 2024, following documentaries aired on Terra FM, a delegation of DRC Members of Parliament from the Committee on Natural Resources, Environment, and Tourism visited the area to look into the complaints. Warom says that after the visit, some MPs wrote to the Ministry of Mines requesting the cancellation of a mining permit issued to Kimia Mining, a Chinese firm in Ituri province, whose gold mine had been rapidly encroaching on the Okapi Wildlife Reserve, a World Heritage site in danger.
Although the process is ongoing, it has generated debate and attention, and the minister in charge of mines is expected to appear before the parliamentary Committee on Natural Resources, Environment, and Tourism to respond to the concerns raised.
Warom says ED’s targets were supported by eight months of civic education radio programming, including magazine programs and debates on renewable energy transition minerals. In the past, mining went on with impunity, and people did not know how to challenge the companies involved.
How Terra FM covers DRC mining on air
Since then, ED has made a positive difference. In widely spoken languages in areas such as Mahagi, Mambasa, and Irumu, Terra FM produced 35 programs and two 40-minute magazine programs on topics such as health risks, the environmental impacts of artisanal mining, and child labor in cobalt, gold, and copper mining. Other programs covered violence, threats, and intimidation against human rights defenders and Indigenous communities in mining areas, as well as armed conflict and environmental conservation.
Terra FM’s content was then shared with four other radio stations serving Indigenous communities in Katanga and Kolwezi in the DRC. Media experts estimate that 1,000 Indigenous people in the Greater Virunga and Ituri landscapes of the DRC and the Murchison-Semliki landscape of western Uganda were reached directly by radio.
Community dialogues reached 15,000 women, advancing gender equality by improving their access to information. Women also took part through radio programs, phone calls, and live contributions. Warom adds that ED initially focused on Indigenous communities such as the Mbuti (Batwa), Efe, Aka, and Baka, and later expanded its work to the Alur, Bagungu, Lendu, Banyakibiro, and Kebu.
Protecting defenders and journalists
A capacity-building initiative trained 30 activists, human rights defenders, and journalists, including 13 women journalists. Warom said that during an in-house workshop, security consultants and experts from Environmental Defenders provided training in physical security, planning, digital security, and psychosocial support. Participants, particularly journalists with experience covering conflict, received post-trauma support and rehabilitation.
“We also increased the resilience of defenders to manage the risks they could face in their work.” — Samuel Jaryekonga Warom, Communications Director, Environmental Defenders
ED held a two-day cross-regional learning exchange in Ituri, Kolwezi, and Katanga to support defenders at risk of defamation by mining firms and encourage their continued participation. Training sessions in Mahagi covered risk assessment, helping highly vulnerable defenders evaluate the risks of their work, as well as organizational and network security, protecting computers from malware and hackers, safeguarding sensitive data, email security, social media use, and mobile phone security. Learn more about our safety and security support for defenders and journalists.
Twenty journalists and activists were also trained in open-source investigations and research methods for human rights defenders and investigative journalists. Following the training, the journalists are expected to produce four investigative articles on the environmental and human rights impacts of mining in the DRC.
“The articles are a work in progress but require funding, which was inadequate. They will be produced, and we hope this will help us assess whether journalists who participated in the training use their new skills in their work.” — Samuel Jaryekonga Warom, Communications Director, Environmental Defenders