The oil and gas field is scheduled to be auctioned at the end of July, wrote The New York Times.

The area is considered important in fighting global warming because it naturally contributes to storing CO2. Some of the world’s oldest rainforest areas are located in the massive central African nation, where hunting for resources has led to decades of war and conflict.

Now authorities hope to create economic development by making Congo a new investment area for oil companies.

The field to be auctioned also extends to Virunga National Park, considered the most important gorilla reserve in the world.

– If oil extraction takes place in this area, we must anticipate a global climate catastrophe, and we will be helpless as we stand and watch, said Irene Wabiwa, Greenpeace campaign leader for Congo Basin conservation in Kinshasa.

Tosi Mpanu Mpanu, Congo’s leading climate representative, said the aim of the sale was to generate enough income to reduce poverty and create much-needed economic growth.

– That’s our priority. Our priority is not to save the planet, he recently told an American newspaper.

It’s only been eight months since Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi signed an agreement to conserve rainforests at a climate summit in Glasgow, but the war in Ukraine has caused the world to shift its focus.

The New York Times refers, among other things, to the fact that Norway has decided to increase oil extraction despite the fact that the country is one of the world champions in conserving rainforests on other continents.

NTB