Mining for Gold, Losing a Unicorn

 Charlie Cooper

3/4/25

Mining for Gold, Losing a Unicorn

The Rare Okapi. 1/5 of Okapi in the world live in this reserve.

    In the Democratic Republic of Congo lies a 5,400 square mile Wildlife reserve named for the primary species it serves to protect: the Okapi. While the reserve serves to protect this rare, zebra-like animal, it is also home to the country’s largest population of forest elephants and the highest diversity of primate species in all of Africa. Not only home to an incredible array of wildlife, it also serves as important land for the forest people who live off of this land legally. 



Unfortunately, over the last few years and especially in the past single year, deforestation related to gold mining practices and the region has risen. Not only an issue relating to forest cover, many of these gold mines use mercury in their process, releasing it into the river that flows through the reserve, poisoning the species that live off of it. The hole continues to dig deeper, as growing mining operations means more workers, many of which are children. This means there are mouths to feed. An investigation into the illegal mining sites in the reserve shows 10 out of 12 serve illegal monkey bushmeat from poaching. 



Now a fair question might be: Why is nobody stopping this illegal activity? Unfortunately, these mining sites are controlled by armed men who have killed any Congolese Eco-Guards who have tried to intervene. In 2012, these armed men have even gone as far as killing 13 Okapi inside the reserve. While we can look to blame poor enforcement in the DRC and corrupt violence, it is fascinating to learn that the Chinese owned Kimia Mining company is funding these armed men and the entire mining operations. In class we learned about this deflection of deforestation from big countries like China to other countries where their actions are less-tracked. 



In my opinion, these issues go beyond the local level. As we have discussed, humans will always value the option where they have maximum economic opportunity and that is what is going on here with the mining. It is terrible to learn about China's heavy involvement in the mining and thus their indirect involvement in damaging crucial primate habitat. I would suggest implementing methods to make money off the land without damaging it, but the violent situation surrounding the park makes that goal seem impossible. It is unfortunate this area happens to be such a hotspot for diverse primates and unique animals, because human greed unfortunately always seems to prevail. 

Deforestation and mining sites growth in only one year


http://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/illegal-gold-mining-drives-deforestation-in-drc-reserve-home-to-african-unicorn/

https://ipisresearch.be/publication/mapping-of-artisanal-mining-sites-in-western-mambasa-ituri-province-democratic-republic-of-the-congo/

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