In forty years, the DRC has experienced strong urban growth, which has been accompanied by a significant disappearance of green spaces. A particularly obvious phenomenon in the capital.
© Gwenn Dubourthoumieu for JA
Boulevard du 30-Juin, main artery of Gombe, in Kinshasa.
With the exception of a few neighborhoods in the commune of Gombe, Binza, Ma-Campagne and peripheral semi-rural areas, Kinshasa is less and less green. Agricultural spaces and green spaces tend to disappear. The reasons ? In some cases, trees have been cut to widen major arteries, such as Boulevard du 30-Juin à la Gombe and Boulevard Lumumba at Limété-Residential, where they have been partially replaced.
The number of property titles and building permits granted has also increased, even in areas where this is prohibited. As a result, green spaces are gradually giving way to buildings and residential areas. Thus, the deforested Ndjili eucalyptus site, the Bandalungwa market gardening area, has been replaced by the city of the Oasis. Even the bay of Ngaliema and the bank of the Congo River between the Prime Minister and the port of Marsavco are threatened.
The “1 billion trees in 2023” project launched in 2019 by Félix Tshisekedi does not yet seem to have been heard
More gas stations, fewer schools
The subdivision of large plots by their owners, without respecting the rules of the town planning code, also favored the disappearance of the gardens. “Today, more than 90% of the space of some plots is built,” deplores Jean Mangalibi, coordinator of the Friends of Nature association. Another worrying trend is the doubling of the number of gas stations in two years. Over 7 km along the Heavy Duty route, 12 service stations have been installed, while the standard is one station every 11 km. In other neighborhoods, they replace schools.
To read DRC: “Kinshasa Chronicles”, plunged into Congolese urban chaos
The responsibility for the “mineralization” of the capital lies with the State and the province of Kinshasa, which let it happen. What do the Kinshasa think? “We have other concerns such as getting around, having electricity and water, finding work,” replies a resident. “The people of Kinshasa who have a passion for nature are in the minority. It is up to the State and the province to provide the impetus, ”reacts Jean Mangalibi. The project launched in 2019 by President Félix Tshisekedi to plant 1 billion trees during his five-year term (“1 billion trees in 2023”) does not yet seem to have been heard in Kinshasa.
