DAKAR, Senegal ¨C Congo, home to one of the largest old-growth rainforests on Earth, is auctioning off vast amounts of land in a push to become ¡°the new destination for oil investments,¡± part of a global shift as the world retreats on fighting climate change in a scramble for fossil fuels.
The oil and gas blocks, which will be auctioned in late July, extend into Virunga National Park, the world¡¯s most important gorilla sanctuary, as well as tropical peatlands that store vast amounts of carbon, keeping it out of the atmosphere and from contributing to global warming.
¡°If oil exploitation takes place in these areas, we must expect a global climate catastrophe, and we will all just have to watch helplessly,¡± said Irene Wabiwa, who oversees the Congo Basin forest campaign for Greenpeace in Kinshasa.
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