Mining for minerals in the Congo could help save the rainforest, former minister says

M ining for critical minerals in the Congo could help protect Africa’s great rainforest by creating new economic opportunities and giving countries in the region greater power over the value of their natural resources, the former environment minister of Gabon – a country 90 per cent covered by the rainforest - has told The Independent .

The Congo Rainforest stretches across two million square kilometres in central Africa, and is the world’s largest forest carbon sink, absorbing around 1.5 billion tonnes of CO2 per year, roughly equivalent to the annual emissions of Russia.

There are concerns, however, that without more strategic conservation efforts, environmental destruction could reach such a point that, like the Amazon, it becomes a net source of emissions . The year 2024 saw the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the country which holds 60 per cent per cent of the forest, lose a record 590,000 hectares of primary forest, equivalent to some 825,000 football pitches. DRC’s government has also issued bids for oil and gas drilling across around half of its landmass.

Speaking to The Independent , Lee White – who served as Gabon’s environment minister between 2019 to 2023 – says that growing demand for critical minerals during the clean energy transition could provide a route to saving the rainforest, despite the environmentally-destructive reputation that the mining industry often holds.

The region holds vast reserves of minerals including copper, cobalt, lithium, manganese, tin, and gold, which are critically important to produce clean energy technologies including batteries, electric vehicles, solar, and wind.

“Bring in responsible mining or forestry companies that are not taking bribes, that are putting pressure on governments to get rid of corrupt officials, and over time you are going to see an improvement in governance, which can support environmental protection, while generating more money for schools, hospitals and everything else,” White says.

Speaking at a time when countries of the Congo Basin, along with most of Sub-Saharan Africa , are receiving significantly less foreign aid than they did a couple of years ago, White says that such responsible private investment could ultimately deliver much stronger outcomes for people and the planet than foreign aid has ever done.

“Aid, I am afraid to say, has barely made a dent in the challenges facing these countries,” he adds.