- The Republic of Congo set up a REDD+ program in the Sangha and Likouala regions, aiming to reduce deforestation and store carbon from 2020 through to 2024.
- However, in the Sangha region alone, the country’s mining minister has issued at least 79 semi-industrial gold mining and exploration permits since the project began.
- Scientists reviewing images of these mining activities condemn the “reckless” destruction of biodiversity.
- The government says the program stored more than 1.5 million metric tons of carbon in 2020, for which it expects to be paid more than $8 million from the World Bank.
This article was produced with the support of the Pulitzer Center Rainforest Investigations Network in collaboration with the Latin American Center for Investigative Journalism (CLIP). It is the first part of a two-part series.
Environmentalist Justin Landry Chekoua says he’s shocked by images of century-old trees uprooted and rivers contaminated in the northern Sangha region of the Republic of Congo. Mongabay had taken photos of an open-pit gold mine within the boundaries of an area designated as part of the Sangha Likouala REDD+ program.
“Looking at it … this is a mining operation with no regard for sustainability,” Chekoua says.
Over the past eight months, Mongabay has conducted an in-depth investigation into the Sangha Likouala REDD+ initiative. We traveled to the Sangha region, reviewed hundreds of official documents, and uncovered a troubling reality: since the REDD+ project’s launch in 2020, the country’s mining minister, Pierre Oba, has issued at least 79 semi-industrial gold mining and exploration permits. This marks a sharp increase from the period between 2017 and 2020, when only eight mining permits were officially issued in the same region, according to a Ministry of Finance report.
By definition, a REDD+ project is designed to reduce deforestation and forest degradation. Yet in the Sangha region, 14% of the territory has already been marked out for gold exploration. This doesn’t account for permits to search for the other minerals, such as iron, that are mined on an industrial scale in the area.
The consequences for the region are severe, impacting both the environment and the lives of local residents.
The Sangha Likouala REDD+ program
For more than 20 years, Copince Ngoma, a farmer in Messock, a village in the northern Republic of Congo, tended his cacao plantations deep in the forest. But two years ago, everything changed.
“There used to be a cacao field here,” he tells Mongabay, gesturing toward young groves sprouting in a clearing. “Now there’s no field. Everything is lost. They dig everywhere, bringing machines into the forest and destroying the cacao. We can no longer make a living.”
The “they” Ngoma refers to are employees of Mac Congo, a company with multiple mining permits to operate in the Sangha region. According to GPS coordinates, we’re standing within the Alagong-Mayebe-Dzouna concession, a 100-square-kilometer (39-square-mile) area where the company has been authorized since 2018 to extract gold on a semi-industrial scale, using motorized equipment.
Gold panning has long been a part of life in this region, traditionally carried out with simple tools like picks and sieves. But the shift to semi-industrial mining has brought significant environmental destruction.
“Forests are being destroyed over vast areas, hectares at a time,” says Chekoua, program manager for the mines, biodiversity and energy initiative of the NGO Forests and Rural Development (FODER) in neighboring Cameroon. “The damage is extensive because of the machinery being used. No measures have been taken to restore or replant the trees that have been uprooted. You see these trees — some are over 100 years old. It will take a long time for the forest to regenerate and regain its ability to sequester the carbon it once did.”
In 2021, the ROC government signed an agreement with the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) to implement a REDD+ program. The initiative aimed to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation while increasing carbon sequestration between 2020 and 2024 in the Sangha and Likouala regions.
Under the program, once the carbon is sequestered, the FCPF will pay the ROC and other participating countries through the sale of carbon credits. Each carbon credit represents 1 metric ton of CO₂ that has been captured and prevented from entering the atmosphere. These credits can be sold to individuals, companies or governments looking to offset their carbon emissions.
But some NGOs, like Greenpeace, criticize this financial mechanism, arguing that it encourages businesses and governments to offset emissions rather than make meaningful changes to reduce them. For the ROC, the scheme is appealing as it offers a way to earn revenue without depleting the country’s forest resources.
Ultimately, the fund aims to prepare these regions for participation in the carbon market. The selection of Sangha and Likouala was strategic: these two regions account for more than half of the ROC’s forest cover and are home to threatened species such as western gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) and giant ground pangolins (Smutsia gigantea).
To support this REDD+ project in the ROC, the FCPF has allocated at least $41 million. One of the key initiatives under the program is shade-grown cacao farming, in which the crop is cultivated beneath the canopy of taller trees rather than replacing them. Additionally, plantations are established in already degraded forest areas to minimize further deforestation.
“Our parents? They used to burn [the land],” says Rémi Bellay, a cacao farmer near Sembé, a few kilometers from Messock, and a REDD+ representative in the Sangha region. “After that, you started planting cacao. But now, with this new method, I don’t burn anymore; I just clear the land.”
Bellay took part in REDD+ training workshops and has put what he learned to work on the plantation he inherited from his father. “You see, cacao without big trees like that won’t work — it’ll die because it doesn’t like too much sun. If you want to grow cacao, you have to preserve the big trees and plant others too, like fruit trees. We’re preserving the environment,” he says.
Though the official harvest season is yet to start, the cacao pods are hanging abundantly on the trees on his land. “It’s growing well, and there aren’t too many difficulties. In fact, it’s growing better than when we used to burn the forest,” Bellay says.
But not everyone in the REDD+ project area has been so lucky.
Forests razed for gold extraction
On Ngoma’s plot in Messock, the scars left by Mac Congo’s gold mining operations remain stark, even though the company vacated the site two years ago. The once-dense forest is gone, centuries-old trees replaced by tall grasses scattered across sandy expanses and murky, discolored pools of water. The sound of birds has been replaced by the buzzing of mosquitoes. Wildlife is increasingly scarce.
According to the U.S.-based National Council for Air and Stream Improvement (NCASI), “old-growth forests store more carbon than young forests.” This means that even if vegetation eventually grows back, the replacement forest will sequester less carbon due to the diminished quality of the vegetation.
There’s a similar story in Bamegoard (also spelled Bamegod), a village just a few kilometers from Messock. Aristide Elong, the village secretary, leads us to Alangong-Bamegod-Inès, another concession where Mac Congo has been extracting gold semi-industrially since 2018. Here, too, the forest has been leveled, leaving a barren clearing and vast expanses of muddy water.
Elong takes us deeper into the concession, where gold mining operations continue.
The sight is breathtaking. In the heart of the forest, devastation reigns. Only a few scattered, leafless branches remain. Between the murky pools, on mounds of sandy soil, an excavator is busy turning over the earth. Nearby, a worker washes sediment at a station, hoping to uncover a nugget of precious gold.
As we stand there, all eyes are on us. Our presence appears to be unsettling. Even though the mining operator holds a permit, this doesn’t necessarily mean its activities are lawful.
We capture a few images, the same ones we later show to Chekoua.
“Aaaaaah, as I see it, this is truly reckless exploitation!” he exclaims. “When a company operates in compliance with environmental standards, the trees that are cut during the stripping phase are kept on-site. The other thing is that they have taken no steps to remove the first layer of soil, the black earth on top, the arable soil.”
In 2018, the emissions reduction program document (ER-PD) submitted by the Republic of Congo to the World Bank described mining as an emerging trend, but not yet a cause for concern for the Sangha Likouala REDD+ program. The report acknowledged that the mining sector was poised for growth in the region, but emphasized the country’s intention to develop a “green” mining system with a reduced ecological impact.
To demonstrate its commitment, the ROC government suspended seven prospecting and mining permits issued in 2016, citing a “potential conflict” with the REDD+ project. Although the exact nature of this conflict wasn’t detailed, its recognition in official documents that semi-industrial gold mining could clash with conservation goals was telling.
But this action proved largely symbolic. By 2020, InfoCongo journalist Marien Nzikou-Massala reported that the village of Zoulabouth, near Messock and Bamegoard, was experiencing similar environmental degradation caused by the search for precious metals. Two years earlier, in 2018, France 24 highlighted the same issues in Elogo, another village in the Sangha region.
Yet none of these incidents are mentioned in the REDD+ program documents. This omission is particularly striking given that the same documents show that Pierre Oba, the mining minister responsible for awarding the permits, had been involved in the REDD+ project from the very beginning. The government was fully aware of the risks posed by such exploitation. Despite this knowledge, additional mining permits were subsequently issued.
To see more, watch the video below in French only :
A problematic lack of land-use planning
To address such conflicts, the Sangha and Likouala program initially proposed implementing a responsible mining process, supported by WWF.
However, six years later, with agreements signed, the REDD+ program launched, and aid funds disbursed, priorities seem to have changed. WWF appears to have distanced itself from the reduced-impact ecological mining initiative. Today, the government seems to have ignored the conflict between mining and reducing deforestation and degradation. In areas like Messock and Bamegoard, where mining operations are highly visible, companies continue to extract resources with the authorities’ full approval.
Erick Nkodia, general secretary of APETDS, forest conservation NGO in Sangha, works closely with local communities and has observed a troubling paradox. “The problem we’re seeing is overlapping uses: permits are being granted, mining is taking place, there’s logging, and there’s also a project to create a protected area in the same zone. These overlapping uses pose a real problem in Congo,” he says.
The authorities are fully aware of this issue. To address the overlapping uses within the REDD+ plot in Sangha and Likouala, the 2018 ER-PD proposed the implementation of a National Land Allocation Plan (PNAT). This initiative was to be financed by the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI) and the U.N.’s Green Climate Fund.
Through this plan, it would have been possible to prevent overlap between gold mining operations and territories designated for conservation. “REDD+ projects are designed to reduce deforestation. Since mining contributes to deforestation, these two activities are fundamentally incompatible,” Chekoua says. “Gold mining drastically reduces the capacity of surrounding ecosystems to store carbon. Instead, it contributes to the emission of CO₂ and methane.”
Yet, as the project nears its conclusion, the land development plan remains absent.
Serious consequences at local and national levels
The first victims of this lack of planning are local and Indigenous populations.
In the Republic of Congo, as in many sub-Saharan African countries, “modern” law often clashes with “customary” law when it comes to land ownership. In general, customary law reflects precolonial traditions that governed local settlements, while modern law consists of regulations established during and after the colonial era by ruling authorities. Under modern law in the ROC, forest lands — both classified and unclassified, unless privately owned — are considered the property of the state. By contrast, under customary law, the land belongs to the people who inhabit it, represented by their customary chiefs.
In recent years, agreements have increasingly granted land rights to local and Indigenous populations. According to a 2011 law on the promotion and protection of the rights of Indigenous populations, these communities are legally entitled to use the forest for harvesting certain products and engaging in productive activities, whether for sale or for domestic, livelihood or customary needs.
However, many of these populations live in remote areas of Sangha, where infrastructure is minimal. Internet connection and mobile reception are often nonexistent, leaving people with little access to information and unaware of their rights. For example, when we met Ngoma, a native Bakouele in Messock, he was unaware that his village fell within the Sangha Likouala REDD+ program territory.
This is where Erick Nkodia comes in. For him, the isolation of these communities is one of the main reasons their voices of dissent against mining-related degradation often go unheard. As part of his work, Nkodia and his organization travel from village to village, educating communities about their rights, particularly in matters of land tenure.
“In some villages, drinking water access points have been destroyed. These activities and violations take place behind closed doors because there’s no internet — no way to communicate with the outside world,” he says. “It’s only when we visit these areas during our activities that communities come forward to reveal what’s happening. That’s when we learn what’s really going on.”
Local populations aren’t the only ones suffering from the current situation. According to the benefit-sharing plan for the Sangha Likouala program, if carbon sequestration is successfully proven, the government is entitled to 15% of the proceeds; local populations and Indigenous communities are to receive 25%; and the remaining 60% is allocated to the private sector. In Sangha, the private sector is primarily represented by logging companies that operate in forest management units (FMUs).
There are nine FMUs in the region: Kabo, Kokoua, Jua-Ikie, Ngombe, Nouabalé-Ouest, Pikounda, Pokola, TalaTala and Karagoua. All are part of the Sangha Likouala REDD+ program. The Jua-Ikié FMU, where the various Mac Congo mining operations we visited are located, is managed by the Chinese-owned logging company Yuan Dong, or SEFYD.
Yvon, who declined to provide his surname, is SEFYD’s management coordinator. “We submit reports informing the authorities about the situation with the mines. The government is well aware. Because if the area allocated to us is deforested, that’s a problem,” he says. This is especially concerning as mining could prevent SEFYD from receiving payments for environmental services under REDD+.
As part of the REDD+ program, logging companies like SEFYD have implemented reduced-impact logging and established conservation zones. According to an observation report for the FLEGT VPA — the trade agreement that allows ROC timber to enter the European Union because it complies with domestic legality requirements — SEFYD’s operations are more than 80% compliant with those requirements. This is a positive assessment, effectively halting mining activities on the company’s concession.
Each FMU should be exploited in accordance with a forest management plan that recognizes the multiple functions of the forest and establishes rules for the different use zones. This includes several key factors: creating timber harvesting zones, conserving biodiversity, improving living conditions for local and Indigenous communities, and protecting flora and fauna.
“The problem is that the government has put the cart before the horse,” SEFYD’s Yvon says. “Normally, land-use planning should have preceded forest management. That way, there would have been no overlapping of uses.
“This is a national issue,” he adds. “The government formed a group of experts to address the problem, and their findings were submitted to the government in the third quarter of 2024. Perhaps this will lead to new legislation or a decree, but for now, we’re still waiting.”
Mining and Congolese law
According to Article 101(f) of the Republic of Congo’s 2005 Mining Code, all mining operators must submit an environmental impact study and a soil rehabilitation plan to the state in order to obtain a permit. But reviewing our images from Sangha, Chekoua, the environmentalist, says there are no signs of mitigation or remedial measures.
So why is the law so rarely respected when it comes to mining?
According to Noel Watha Ndoudy, a specialist in subsoil resource characterization and environmental assessment of mining projects, the law isn’t stringent enough, and there’s a lack of personnel to enforce it. “There should be monitoring of these sites, there should be control,” he says. “Unfortunately, inspections are not carried out regularly, so operators take advantage of it.”
For Ndoudy, the penalties are too low to dissuade violators. “Currently, an operator who causes damage may earn 100 million CFA francs [around $161,000] and will have to pay 10 million CFA francs [around $16,000] in fines. They don’t care; they’ll just pay the fine and move on,” he says.
He advocates for higher fines, saying, “We need to revise these fees to align them with our environmental preservation goals.”
Chekoua agrees, but for him, the problem goes deeper. He says the ROC’s entire political and economic system needs to be reevaluated.
“Our states are very fragile. It’s the Asians who provide our countries with easy credit for infrastructure projects. As a result, our governments — those responsible for enforcing the law — act as though they don’t see anything,” he says. “I’ve seen a state agent suspend a company for lacking the necessary authorizations, only for his superior at the ministry to call and ask him to remove the seal. So there’s a lot of influence peddling happening.”
Mongabay requested a meeting with the environment minister, the forest economy minister and the mining minister. None responded to our request.
However, Arnaud Kibinza Kiesse, director of the Sangha Likouala REDD+ program, agreed to meet us in the capital, Brazzaville, where he’s based.
When we raise the issue of the growing number of gold mines in Sangha, he doesn’t seem surprised. In fact, he presents a solution promoted by the program: “Mining companies can be assisted, should they wish to participate. They can receive technical support to implement reduced-impact mining practices. Through this program, the REDD+ project aims to set targets for companies to reduce their environmental impact.”
However, Kiesse says, the program has one major flaw: it’s entirely voluntary. “We can offer help, but the program relies on the stakeholders showing interest. We inform everyone about it, but those who want to participate must apply themselves.”
While this may provide a helping hand, nothing is currently compelling these mining companies to adopt better forest preservation practices.
The ROC government says the program enabled it to store more than 1.5 million metric tons of carbon by 2020. These claims are now being verified by Spanish certification body AENOR.
If approved, the World Bank will purchase the stored carbon for the modest sum of $8.3 million, or around 5 billion CFA francs. Once confirmed, these carbon credits will acquire the FCPF standard, allowing the ROC government to be officially recognized on the global carbon market.
Banner image : An excavator digs for gold at the Alangong-Bamegod-Inès mining site in the Sangha. According to environmentalist Justin Chekoua, “nothing seems to be being done” to preserve biodiversity at the site. Image by Elodie Toto for Mongabay.
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