Political Ecology

Displaced citizens in the Congo. Photo credit: Njtoday.net

Explaining the relationship between the political climate of the Congo and its environmental issues can be examined from a political ecology perspective. The Congo has dealt with a long history of corruption that dates back to when European exploration first began in the 19th century. For the intents of discussing the abuses against the Congo's rural inhabitants, it is essential to discuss the claiming of the region by King Leopold II of Belgium throughout the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Though the king never visited the Congo himself, he was the head of an industrial operation meant to gain wealth with no intention of repayment, leading to two decades of enslavement and bloodshed (Hochschild 1998, 4-5). Leopold's representatives forced countless Congolese to collect resources such as ivory and rubber; if they did not oblige, they risked being tortured, raped, or killed, among other atrocities. Village chiefs, who only spoke their indigenous language, unknowingly signed contracts to give up their land in exchange for a meager sum of supplies or sometimes nothing at all. The dark side of the colonization of the Congo was that it resulted in the death of millions of indigenous Congolese being largely covered up by Belgium (Hochschild 1998, 3). Another impact of Belgium's colonization was its toll on the environment. The collection of rubber from the Congo's rubber trees, as mentioned above, also resulted in mass deforestation, contributing to an acceleration in irreversible habitat loss that continues to occur in the present day.

Slaves in the Congo during
Belgian occupation. Photo
credit: Mangozeen

Exploitation of indigenous Congolese still exists in the 21st-century, partially attributable to the governing of the former president, Joseph Kabila, and his administration. Kabila stayed in office beyond his two-term limit, consequently escalating tensions have led to widespread violence and war. Even though Kabila is now out of office, there are rumors his administration rigged the election in favor of the Kabila-endorsed Union for Democracy and Social Progress party. This disorder has also led to a mass displacement of Congolese citizens and increasingly restricted movement of healthcare workers (Moran 2018, 1295-1296). Despite having an abundance of natural resources and incoming financial aid, 13.1 million citizens or approximately 16% of the population are still identified to be in critical need of humanitarian aid (Arieff 2018). A host of other issues such as poor sanitation and inadequate food supplies arise in conjunction with this large population living under the poverty line. These combined factors make containing the spread of Ebola a difficult task.

Focusing on the economic consequences of war on the bushmeat trade in the Congo also provides a glimpse into how Ebola has made its way into urban populations. A study completed in 2006 focused on the number of protected species sold in rural and urban markets in both times of peace and war in the Congo (De Merode and Cowlishaw 2006, 1264). It found that while rural bushmeat markets remained relatively stable through peace and war, urban markets grew more unstable during a war. Since the military is not able to devote as much time to monitoring urban markets during wartimes, the number of bushmeat vendors and protected species sold are allowed to grow unregulated (De Merode and Cowlishaw 2006, 1269). Until conflicts in the Congo cease, or at the least, decrease in severity, organizing a response effort to the repeated Ebola outbreaks will be a difficult task.

Sources: https://ebolainthecongo.blogspot.com/2019/03/bibliography.html