Oil and gas expansion in Congo Basin Countries is an existential threat to the global climate and to the world’s second largest rainforest and the thousands of communities that call it home. 

• Despite the need to end oil and gas expansion globally, the area of land allocated to oil and gas production on the African continent may quadruple
• Oil and gas exploration blocks overlap 30% of dense tropical forests in Africa, the majority of which are in the Congo Basin
• In the Congo Basin, over 35% of dense tropical forests, or 64 million hectares (an area nearly twice the size of Germany), now overlap with oil and gas blocks.
• Over 150 distinct ethnic groups call the Congo Basin home and over 35 million people in Congo Basin countries, are now in existing or designated oil and gas blocks.

Congo in the Crosshairs spotlights how oil and gas expansion in Congo Basin Countries is an existential threat to the global climate and to the world’s second largest rainforest and the thousands of communities and millions of people that call it home. Co-published with Rainforest Foundation UK  and endorsed by nine Congo Basin organizations, this report offers a deep dive into what’s at stake in the region presenting a spectrum of threat maps and analytics as well as offering solutions for how a different path can be charted.

There is still time for African nations and the international community to chart a different path that advances economic well-being while protecting critical forests and the communities that depend on them.

• Despite the need to end oil and gas expansion globally, the area of land allocated to oil and gas production on the African continent may quadruple
• Oil and gas exploration blocks overlap 30% of dense tropical forests in Africa, the majority of which are in the Congo Basin
• In the Congo Basin, over over 35% of dense tropical forests, or 64 million hectares (an area nearly twice the size of Germany), now overlap with oil and gas blocks.
• Over 150 distinct ethnic groups call the Congo Basin home and over 35 million people in Congo Basin countries, are now in existing or designated oil and gas blocks.

Continental Scale Threats

The threat of oil and gas expansion on a continental scale in Africa is happening at an alarming pace – most often against the wishes of local communities who suffer most from the inherent costs of pollution, corruption, human rights violations and deforestation that accompany this kind of extractive development.

Congo Basin Oil and Gas Threats to Tropical Forests​

The Congo Basin contains 90% of Africa's dense tropical forests that overlap with oil and gas blocks making the region the epicentre of oil and gas expansion threats to dense tropical forests on the continent, and likely the world.

Oil and gas expansion in the Congo Basin threatens to further fragment intact lands and exacerbate forest and wetland degradation and deforestation in the region. Over 180 million hectares of dense tropical forests remain in the region and over 35% of these forests, or 64 million hectares (an area nearly twice the size of Germany), now overlap with over 150 production or designated exploration oil and gas blocks.)

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