DRC natural resources press review of Thursday, September 12, 2013

The DRC Minister of Petroleum has responded to the release press of Global Witness. For the Minister of Hydrocarbons Crispin Atama Tabe, the Potentiel newspaper says, the DRC has the right to assess the geological wealth of the Virunga National Park. Regarding the request to the Congolese authorities to open the draft hydrocarbon law to a public consultation, the Minister of Oil said that the Hydrocarbons Code provides that the allocation of oil blocks is done following a call for offers. For Crispin Atama Tabe says the potential, "the accession of the DRC to Unesco or entrusting the management of Virunga National Park as World Heritage does not diminish the sovereignty of the DRC on this piece of land" . About the same information, Radio Okapi reports that for Crispin Atama Tabe, the real problem of Global Witness is the exploration of oil in the so-called protected areas. And yet, he said that the country has the right to authorize the drilling so-called protected areas, taking into account the protection of the environment. The Avenir vnewspaper returns to the Global Witness release press and speaks "the need to open the draft hydrocarbon law to a public consultation." The daily recalls that the British NGO, the hydrocarbons law, as it stands at present, create an opaque allocation of petroleum rights system and do not make mandatory the publication of oil contracts or the identity of the beneficial owners or "effective" oil licenses. This would increase the risk of corruption in the sector. In addition, this law opens the door to drilling in national parks and sites of Congo World Heritage. On another issue, that of "illegal logging", the Potentiel newspaper reports that a three-day workshop held to stop it. It was launched by the Deputy Prime Minister in charge of the Budget on "illegal logging and illegal trade in timber and species of flora and fauna in the DRC." In this regard, bringing the minister of Environment in the opening ceremony of the workshop, Prosperité newspaper notes that this issue is complex. Various components of society are directly or indirectly involved in this unfortunate corollary to traffic on the national economy. "True conjunction diverse interests, the system involves civil servants, soldiers, politicians, politicians, entrepreneurs and various interest groups. The complexity of the system is even more apparent when looking at players in the upstream sector, namely the operators of wildlife and suppliers of logs and wood sold or exported, "said Bavo N'Sa Mputu. Sanitation procedures, involving cross-cutting services, effective implementation of the monitoring program for the production and marketing of wood, regulations artisanal logging and community forestry, among others, the expected outcomes of the workshop, the newspaper said. For its part, Radio Okapi reports that the Minister of Mines, Martin Kabuelulu, banned all artisanal mining activity in the mining site Mukungwe, saying that the site is located within the exclusive scope of the company in the BANRO Walungu in South Kivu. The Minister's decision, contained in a letter addressed to the governor of the province on August 19, was brought to the attention of local miners of gold, gathered on Wednesday September 11 Madaka in the group Mushinga. The Minister's decision Kabuelulu aims to end a conflict between three families Mukungwe vying this site rich in gold, for over a decade. The same media reports that François Habiyaremye, Nlandu Lukebakio and Malio Ngaliema just published a book entitled "Habitats of the reserve and hunting area Bombo Lumene in the DRC, lexicon Kiteke observed in these environments plants." This book of 114 pages talking about biodiversity in protected areas. It was published with the assistance of the Royal Institute of Science of Belgium and the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature. It presents strategies for developing sustainable management plans for biodiversity DRC protected areas from 2008 to 2012.