RETHINKING JUST TRANSITION IN THE DRC

Facing the global climate crisis, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) occupies a strategic position. With its vast forests in the Congo Basin, its water resources and minerals essential for the energy transition, it is often presented as a "solution country": a key player for the planet and a crucial supplier for green technologies. But behind this promising image lies a paradox. At the heart of global ecological balances, the DRC remains vulnerable, confronted with deforestation, food and energy insecurity, pollution, dependence on extractive industries, strong social inequalities and multiple environmental governance challenges. The country's political ecology thus reflects contradictions: a sustainability agenda oriented outward on one hand and the environmental vulnerability of local territories on the other; enormous ecological wealth but economic dependence; a discourse on equity, but persistent exclusion of local communities.