Region: Central Africa
Population: 66 million (UN, 2008)
Capital: Kinshasa
Major languages: French, Lingala, Kikongo, Swahili, Tshiluba
Major religions: Christianity, Islam
Terrain: Vast central basin is a low-lying plateau, while mountains rise to the east
Climate: Tropical. Hot and humid in equatorial river basin, cooler and drier in the southern highlands, cooler and wetter in eastern highlands
Background
DR Congo, formerly Zaire, achieved independence from Belgian colonial rule in 1960. Its history over the past 50 years has been marked by political upheaval, dictatorship, conflict and ethnic strife. This vast central African country – the fourth most populous in the continent – has seldom seen stability.
A series of rebellions, civil wars and neighbouring fighting – including the civil war of 1998 which drew in combatants from at least eight other countries – has resulted in the deaths of an estimated 3.9 million people, according to the International Rescue Committee, making the conflict in Congo the most lethal since World War II. Despite an ongoing national UN presence and a ceasefire in 2003, conflict continues in the east of the country.
2006-08 saw gradual economic recovery after decades of war, but further outbreaks of conflict and the impact of the global recession are now arresting this growth. Around 90% of the population relies on rain-fed agriculture.
Potential impacts of climate change
Rainfall is projected to become more intense and more destructive over the coming years, expecting to bring about floods, landslides and soil erosion.
The rainy seasons will become shorter in the south, which is largely made up of the already dry savannah belt and harbours 80% of the rural population of DR Congo.
Coastal erosion, rising sea levels, frequent heat waves, seasonal droughts and the encroaching desert are also set to impact upon DR Congo.
Rising temperatures will cause a surge in crop diseases and periodic droughts will disrupt the agricultural calendar, resulting in crop failure and affecting cultivation of food and cash crops and intensifying food insecurity and poverty.
Malaria is expected to become even more widespread due to higher temperatures. Sleeping sickness, cardio-vascular diseases and water-borne ailments will proliferate.
Water resources will be disturbed by the altered climate, causing water stress for many and impacting upon DR Congo’s hydroelectric power supply which represents most of the energy supply in the country.
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