Congo's Environmental Paradox: Potential and Predation in a Land of Plenty

Theodore Trefon

may 2016 · Bloomsbury Publishing

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The Democratic Republic of Congo has the natural resources the world needs – it is crucial to satisfying our craving for the latest high-tech gadgets; the Inga Dam could light up all of Africa; while Congo's farmers could feed a billion people. These realities are redefining the country's strategic contribution to a globalized world. A resource paradise for some, the DRC is an environmental nightmare for others.

Congo's Environmental Paradox analyses the new dynamics in the country's forest, mineral, land, water and oil sectors, revealing the interactions between these sectors. Connecting the dots, it shows how we need to fundamentally rethink power, politics and resource management in Congo today.

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Theodore Trefon (PhD, Boston University) studies the politics of state–society relations and natural resource governance in the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the Belgian Royal Museum for Central Africa. He has devoted his career to the Congo as a researcher, author, project manager and consultant. Having lectured on development at the Catholic University of Leuven (KUL) and Boston University Brussels, he continues to teach and learn about environmental governance at Kinshasa's ERAIFT (École Régionale Post-universitaire d'Aménagement et de Gestion Intégrés des Forêts et Territoires Tropicaux). Trefon coordinated European Union-funded forest conservation projects while working at the Free University of Brussels (ULB) from 1994 to 2006. He has advised international development agencies, governments, think tanks, NGOs and private consultancy firms. Contributing editor to the Review of African Political Economy and founding director of the Belgian Reference Centre for Expertise on Central Africa, his expertise derives from desk study, analysis, participatory observation and extensive fieldwork. His previous book, Congo Masquerade: The Political Culture of Aid Inefficiency and Reform Failure (2011), also appeared in the African Arguments series.