WINNING ENTRY - IFRTD OPINIONS FAIR (August 2007)

Public consultations to reconcile road construction with the environment  by Idesbald Chinamula

We live in a sub-Saharan African country which has just emerged from a long cycle of armed conflicts that have caused destruction and poverty. Rural areas, where many of the military operations took place, were the main victims of the wars. Peace came due a general consensus for democratic elections, following which, political fights led way to an ambitious reconstruction programme, everything has to be rebuilt in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Transport is gradually becoming the top priority.  By linking all the provinces of the country with passable and well maintained roads, transport will help to rebuild national unity while also enabling the reconstruction of other basic infrastructure.

However, one should wonder whether beyond the potential and vital impact of roads, their reconstruction will accelerate the destruction of the environment? Several studies carried out in the country on the impact of previous road rehabilitation programmes revealed that environmental destruction is the downside of improving the socio-economic living conditions of the beneficiaries of these programmes. But is this a reason to stop constructing roads? This question is the subject of the public consultations that are currently being undertaken to determine which parts of the road network to rehabilitate.

The public consultations, financed by those who actually want to build roads, nevertheless offer a very rare platform to reflect on the direct and indirect consequences of transport on environment and to suggest measures to reconcile both. Public consultations will also help to involve communities, the main beneficiaries of the project, to its design while also engaging them in the protection of their own environment, in all its biodiversity.

During these consultations, a general assessment of the environment has shown that the lack of transport is also a cause of environmental destruction because people abandon agriculture for diamond mining and hunting (to feed the diamond miners). It has been verified that a lack of transport exposes protected areas to constant violation both by miners who create new quarries and by poachers, who feed them.

On these completely destructed roads, bicycles remain the only means to carry farm products to the diamond miners. A road crosses an area of intense mining activity for 500 km between Kisangani and Aketi. Mining sites are scattered on both sides of the road, however the most active are found in remote areas far from the roads.  Distances to cover range from 200 to 400 km. Bicycle owners, also traders, buy farm products directly from the farmers and resell them in the diamond mine areas.. With a multitude of farmers ready to offer him their products, he has a sort of monopoly. This monopoly is evident in the very low prices at which he buys from farmers.

 In the most remote areas, the situation for farmers is even more difficult because a bicycle is not suitable for transporting heavy products such as maize, cassava or rice. Unfortunately in these circumstances protected species which are light and easy to store (particularly by smoking) are far more profitable than farm products and become the products that every farmer wants to sell the cover his or her needs. Poaching then intensifies in remote areas.

Participants in the consultations (which included stakeholders in the current construction) believe that if roads are rehabilitated and transport is opened to all it will add value to farm products and bring rural farmers back to agricultural activities. It is possible that even current diamond miners, who are many due to the lack of alternative paid employment, will go back to farming to supply a big market (agro-industries). In this case, advances made in farming techniques and productivity should be put at the disposal of the farming community so that the latter do not aggravate deforestation. Transport will therefore fully contribute to environmental conservation.  

This opinion piece was contributed by Idesbald Chinamula, ECODED / GFN RDC
Contact: idechina [at] yahoo.fr

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