In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, an inter-ministerial decree specifically allowing the capture and killing of certain protected species is controversial. The document re-emerged one year after it was signed. This text is also attacked by the National Institute for Conservation of Nature (ICCN), which considers this decree to be a setback for the country. Environmental associations and ecologists are demanding that it be withdrawn because this decree legalizes poaching for them.
with our correspondent in Kinshasa, Patient Ligodi
This decree was signed on 24 July 2020.
The National Institute for the Conservation of Nature (ICCN) says it only discovered it about a month ago.
The text was signed by the Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development and by his colleague from the Ministry of Finance at the time. According to this decree, it is now legally permitted to catch, kill or hunt animal species, fully or partially protected thanks to a permit obtained from the Directorate for Nature Conservation.
It takes, for example, 1925 dollars to have the right to shoot a mountain gorilla, a fully protected species in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Permission to slaughter a bonobo, a savannah elephant, an okapi or a rhinoceros black costs 2885 dollars.
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According to Claude Nyamugabo, the former Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development, this decree was adopted to enable the ministry to reach its budget appropriations, adding that his successor has the power to suspend or suspend it. To improve.
In the cabinet of Eve Bazaiba, the current Deputy Prime Minister for Sustainable Development, it is said that a team of experts has been set up to analyze the text.
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