[ti:Gold Mining Operation Spreads into Protected Area of Congo]
[al:As It Is]
[ar:VOA]
[dt:2024-12-20]
[by:www.voase.cn]
[00:00.00]A Chinese-run gold mine in eastern Congo's Ituri province is slowing spreading into an area that many say it should not be operating in at all. 
[00:15.77]The area is the Okapi Wildlife Reserve, an endangered World Heritage site.
[00:23.90]Congo's government established the boundaries, or borders, of the reserve around thirty years ago.
[00:34.01]But over the years the boundaries changed. 
[00:38.51]These changes permitted the company to operate inside the forest.
[00:45.49]The reserve was already on the endangered list, under threat from conflict and wildlife trafficking.
[00:54.74]Now the quick growth of the Chinese mines threatens to further hurt the forest and the communities living in it.
[01:04.72]Residents and wildlife experts say the mining is polluting the rivers and soil, damaging trees and bringing more humans to the area.
[01:18.75]As a result, illegal hunting has increased.
[01:24.86]Joe Eisen of Rainforest Foundation UK described the situation as "alarming."
[01:33.37]He said that the area is "supposed to be a protected World Heritage Site" that was already at risk.
[01:43.76]Covering more than 13,000 square kilometers, the reserve became a protected place in 1996.
[01:54.98]The area has wide biological diversity and many threatened species. 
[02:01.71]These include the okapi, a forest giraffe, for which the reserve is named.
[02:09.95]The reserve holds some 15 percent of the world's remaining 30,000 okapi.
[02:18.79]The reserve is in the Congo Basin rainforest - the world's second-biggest rainforest.
[02:26.63]The rainforest is a major carbon sink. 
[02:30.62]Carbon sinks help limit climate change. 
[02:35.22]The area also has a large amount of mineral wealth such as gold and diamonds.
[02:42.65]Under Congo's mining rules, mining is barred in protected areas, which includes the reserve.
[02:52.05]Issa Aboubacar, a spokesperson for the Chinese company, Kimia Mining Investment, said the group is operating legally. 
[03:04.19]It recently renewed its permits until 2048, government records show.
[03:12.17]Congo's mining registry said the map they are using came from files from the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature, or ICCN.
[03:25.64]The ICCN is a government group responsible for supervising Congo's protected areas.
[03:35.37]The mining registry also said it is currently working with the ICCN on changing the boundaries and protecting the park.
[03:47.99]The ICCN told The Associated Press (AP) that in meetings this year with the mining registry, boundary misunderstandings were discussed.
[04:02.88]It also said the first boundaries should be honored.
[04:07.92]A government document from August, seen by AP, said all companies in the Reserve will be closed, including Kimia Mining.
[04:19.03]The document has not been reported until now and is the first admission that the current boundaries are wrong, environmentalists working in Congo say.
[04:33.52]Rights groups in Congo have long said the permits were illegally awarded by the mining ministry based on incorrect maps.
[04:44.86]Eastern Congo has seen violence for many years. 
[04:49.59]The Okapi Reserve has seen years of unrest by local militia.
[04:55.89]In 2012, in Epulu town, a local rebel group killed several residents, including two officers of the reserve, and 14 okapis. 
[05:09.85]The animals were part of a captive breeding program.
[05:13.64]The reserve has also been threatened by smaller mining activities, including by thousands of Indigenous peoples who live in and around the forest.
[05:27.05]I'm John Russell.