UNEP-MONUSCO JOINT REPORT

ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME AND INSTABILITY

IN EASTERN DR CONGO

Chrisitan Nellemann

Rune Henriksen

Daniel Ruiz

Hassan Partow

9TH ICGLR-OECD-UN GoE FORUM

ON RESPONIBLE MINERAL SUPPLY CHAINS

Objectives:

1) Role of illegal natural resource exploitation in fuelling

and sustaining armed conflict in Eastern DRC.

2) Inform MONUSCO on ‘operational gaps’ in tackling

illegal natural resource exploitation.

3) Propose inputs for consideration by the UN Security Council in its review of MONUSCO mandate.

Illegal natural resources exploitation in eastern DRC is valued at

around USD 1 billion per year.

An estimated 10-30 percent is smuggled by transnational

criminal networks

Resource Volume Value (million) Income to

Organized Crime

(10-30%)

1. Gold 10 tons 383-409

40 - 120 m

2. Charcoal 293,000 tons 58-175 11.7-35.1m

3. Timber 800,000 m3

(RWE)

160 16-48m

4. Tin

Tantalum

Tungsten

7,567 tons

697 tons

115 tons

67

20

0.13

7.5 – 22.6m

5. Fish - 40 4 - 12m

6. Cannabis - 5 5m

7. Wildlife - 3 70k – 400k

Estimates of Natural resources smuggled from eastern DRC

98 % of net profits from illegal

natural resource exploitation

goes to transnational criminal

networks

Around 8,000 rebel fighters; approx.USD 1,500/rebel/annum

USD 10-20 million USD or 2% of profits needed to sustain rebels

Environmental Impacts of Gold Mining

Hg

Hg ‘sponge gold’

Charcoal: Congo’s Black Gold • Primary energy supply for 70-90% of households

• Demand expected to triple by 2050

‘Divide and Rule’

Hypothesis

Political vs. Economic

Insurgency

Implications for MONUSCO

• Strategic: environmental crime as root cause

• Operational: strengthen information management capacities to

counter armed and criminal networks