The organisations say the state acted in bad faith when granting the permit to an entity, which is owned 85% by the China Oil and Natural Gas Overseas Holding, and 15% by a state-owned company, which is known by its French name, La Société Nationale des Pétroles du Congo.

This was more than two months after the government signed a R950 million conservation agreement at COP28 in December.

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The move to call for the cancellation of the licence was partly informed by a new report from Amnesty International, which detailed existing examples of “oil spills and smoke emissions linked to the activities of oil and recycling companies, and their potential impact on the human rights of local populations”.

According to the rights groups, the now-prospected Conkouati block is home to an estimated 7 000 people in 28 villages, and also to Western lowland gorillas, chimpanzees, leatherback turtles, and elephants.

Earth Insight, an institution that builds transparency tools to help restrict fossil fuel, mining and other industrial expansion, joined the push. It argues that 26% of the park falls under the prospected area.

Murtala Touray, the programme director at Greenpeace Africa, said the exploration was a danger to the continent’s climate change and conservation drive.

He also appealed for strong political will with regard to biodiversity.

He said:

From 1999 until 2018, the park was co-managed by the Wildlife Conservation Society and the government. 

After that, a new partner from France, Parcs de Noé, was brought in. 

Just like other transnational conservation areas across Africa, Conkouati-Douli National Park is linked to another, across the border in Gabon, the Mayumba National Park, which forms a transfrontier.

Tyson Miller, the executive director at Earth Insight, said countries relying on oil and gas for economic growth were faced with a challenge of what to choose.

He proposed that one of the ways to deal with this impasse was to find ways of promoting eco-friendly economic growth.

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“A closer look at the situation in the Conkouati-Douli National Park illustrates a huge global problem – namely that oil and gas and industrial expansion continue to open up and fragment critical ecosystems. 

“Simply put, we need to ensure the protection of protected areas and intact ecosystems globally, while also finding ways to advance regenerative economic development,” he said.

According to the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Congo possesses substantial reserves of crude oil and natural gas.

Fifty-five percent of GDP, 85% of export value, and 80% of government revenue come from oil exports.

The News24 Africa Desk is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation. The stories produced through the Africa Desk and the opinions and statements that may be contained herein do not reflect those of the Hanns Seidel Foundation.