International funding is insufficient for the Democratic Republic of Congo's major rainforest to play its role in fighting climate change, a report from two research groups published on Tuesday said.
DRC, a nation five times the size of France, is home to more than 60 per cent of the Congo Basin -- the world's second-largest tropical rainforest.
"The country, rich in strategic natural resources, is in a position to play a leading role in the fight against climate change," said the report from New York University-based Congo Studies Group and the Congolese Ebuteli Institute.
"Although the DRC is encouraged to mobilise its natural assets such as its forests and transition minerals in the fight against climate change, it receives very little climate finance in return," the report added.
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Between 2016 and 2020, DRC's National Fund for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation obtained less climate funding than expected.
The state agency was only able to obtain $220 million out of the expected $1.1 billion, according to data consulted by AFP.
"The DRC urgently needs significant capital capable of meeting the needs of the most deprived populations, weakened by the perverse effects of climate change," the report said.
To increase climate financing, the country must put in place "good governance, an adequate business climate, socio-economic and political stability, and a transparent regulatory framework".
The lack of climate financing, coupled with donors' opposition to logging and oil exploitation, fuels accusations of an "international conspiracy against the Congolese state", the report said.
DRC is among the five poorest nations in the world, with almost 75 per cent of Congolese people living on less than $2.15 a day in 2024, according to the World Bank.
"An additional 16 million people could be pushed into poverty by 2050 if the country does not implement climate‑resilient investments and additional inclusive policies to achieve economic growth and sustainable livelihoods," the World Bank said in a statement in November 2023.