A nongovernmental organization is trying to reforest areas once deforested due to displacement in the DRC. Credit: Prosper Heri Ngorora/IPS
By Prosper Heri Ngorora
GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo, Aug 29 2025 – The Youth Circle for Nature Conservation and Community Development is working toward the reforestation of sites where displaced people lived near the town of Goma.
The platform wants to reforest all the sites deforested by war-displaced people around the town of Goma.
Most of these areas were wooded before the M23 war began in late 2021.
When the wave of displaced people began to sweep through the capital of North Kivu, these areas were cleared for a variety of purposes, including the construction of makeshift shelters and the use of firewood.
“We see reforestation as a practical way of combating global warming and soil degradation and restoring biodiversity,” says Gloire Mbusa, programme manager at Youth Circle for Nature Conservation and Community Development.
He says that his organization has already planted trees on more than 13 hectares at the Kanyaruchinya site, north of the city of Goma.
Many environmentalists have criticized the current political and security crisis in eastern DRC for its “disastrous consequences” for the environment and called for action to fix it.
Virunga National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Credit
Yvette Kaboza/Wikipedia
“We deplore the fact that since the outbreak of the current crisis in the east of the country, protected areas, including parks, have been destroyed. The parties involved in the conflict should know that these areas have non-belligerent status,” says Olivier Ndoole Bahemuke, an environmental activist.
He refers in particular to the Virunga National Park, one of the oldest parks in Africa, which is facing what he describes as an ‘existential threat.’
The Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature, the Congolese state body responsible for managing and conserving biodiversity in the DRC, has revealed that weapon activism, despoiling and carbonization are among the threats to the Virunga Park.
Congo-Youth Circle for Nature Conservation and Community Development says it wants to help revive an already ‘fragile’ biodiversity by planting trees.
“We are considering reforesting other sites, such as the concessions of the primary and secondary schools that used to house displaced people,” says Gloire Mbusa.
John Tsongo, an environmental activist in Goma, encourages such initiatives, which he believes will green up the outskirts of the capital of North Kivu.
“There were more than 10 camps for displaced people around Goma, and these camps were no longer covered in vegetation. To say that we are starting to replant trees again is a truly commendable initiative. It will play a very important role in regulating the province’s climate. This initiative needs to be carried out right in the heart of the city of Goma,” he says.
He suggests that the authorities and other stakeholders raise awareness among the population so that everyone plants at least one tree in Goma, which could go some way to solving the problem of restoring green spaces in and around Goma.
“We can, for example, tell the population to plant trees along the main roads in the city of Goma and in each plot. Thereafter, we can tell the residents to monitor the trees to ensure that they last. There have been many projects along these lines, but to no avail,” he warns.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is one of the world’s forest-rich countries. Deforestation on both a small and large scale is putting its forests at risk, jeopardizing the merits of the country as a ‘solution country’ to climate change, as its authorities have always claimed.
IPS UN Bureau Report
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