This presentation was made by the United Nations Environment Programme during the session "On-the-ground progress and impacts of responsible production and sourcing efforts" of the 9th Multi-stakeholder Forum for Responsible Mineral Supply Chains, held in Paris on 4-6 May 2015. Find out more at http://mneguidelines.oecd.org/icglr-oecd-un-forum-paris-2015.htm

1. UNEP-MONUSCO JOINT REPORT
ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME AND INSTABILITY
IN EASTERN DR CONGO
Chrisitan Nellemann
Rune Henriksen
Daniel Ruiz
Hassan Partow
9TH ICGLR-OECD-UN GoE FORUM
ON RESPONIBLE MINERAL SUPPLY CHAINS

2. Objectives:
1) Role of illegal natural resource exploitation in fuelling
and sustaining armed conflict in Eastern DRC.
2) Inform MONUSCO on ‘operational gaps’ in tackling
illegal natural resource exploitation.
3) Propose inputs for consideration by the UN Security
Council in its review of MONUSCO mandate.

3. Illegal natural resources exploitation in eastern DRC is valued at
around USD 1 billion per year.
An estimated 10-30 percent is smuggled by transnational
criminal networks

4. Resource Volume Value (million) Income to
Organized Crime
(10-30%)
1. Gold 10 tons 383-409
40 - 120 m
2. Charcoal 293,000 tons 58-175 11.7-35.1m
3. Timber 800,000 m3
(RWE)
160 16-48m
4. Tin
Tantalum
Tungsten
7,567 tons
697 tons
115 tons
67
20
0.13
7.5 – 22.6m
5. Fish - 40 4 - 12m
6. Cannabis - 5 5m
7. Wildlife - 3 70k – 400k
Estimates of Natural resources smuggled from eastern DRC

5. 98 % of net profits from illegal
natural resource exploitation
goes to transnational criminal
networks

6. Around 8,000 rebel fighters; approx.USD 1,500/rebel/annum
USD 10-20 million USD or 2% of profits needed to sustain rebels

7. Environmental Impacts of Gold Mining
Hg
Hg
‘sponge gold’

8. Charcoal: Congo’s Black Gold
• Primary energy supply for 70-90% of households
• Demand expected to triple by 2050

9. ‘Divide and Rule’
Hypothesis
Political vs. Economic
Insurgency

10. Implications for MONUSCO
• Strategic: environmental crime as root cause
• Operational: strengthen information management capacities to
counter armed and criminal networks