COP30 – Belém: Josué Aruna says local communities make the DRC a true “Solution Country”

At a side event inside the DRC Pavilion at COP30 in Belém, Josué Aruna, Coordinator of the Congo Basin Conservation Society (CBCS) and a leading voice on forest governance, delivered a pointed reminder before Congo’s Minister of Environment, Marie Nyange: the reason the Democratic Republic of Congo is now recognized as a “solution country” in the global climate fight is because local communities and Indigenous peoples have protected its forests for generations.

“The Congo Basin is not just a geographic space. It is a living system sustained by the people who inhabit it,” Aruna said. He recalled that the region often described as the world’s second ecological lung after the Amazon spans more than three million hectares of forest. It is one of the largest carbon sinks on Earth, playing a decisive role in stabilizing the global climate.

But beyond carbon metrics and conservation frameworks, Aruna highlighted a dimension often overlooked by international policymakers: the local food system, which he described as the backbone of resilience in the Congo Basin.

According to him, this system is vital to the survival of forest communities and is precisely what allows long-term ecosystem protection. “It is thanks to these communities that we can feed the population while reducing pressure on the forests,” he said. This balance between food sovereignty, biodiversity protection and rural resilience has become a strategic national priority.

Yet the challenges remain immense: slash-and-burn agriculture, rising deforestation, uncontrolled logging, rapid biodiversity loss, and enduring food insecurity. In this context, Aruna argues that agroecology is not a trend but a necessary shift.

“Agroecology is a structural pillar in the fight against climate change,” he affirmed, noting that it offers productive models that do not rely on forest destruction, while providing sustainable economic alternatives.

By denouncing growing pressures on the Congo Basin and spotlighting the central role of local communities, Aruna delivered a simple truth: without these communities, no global climate strategy can stand. And it is precisely this alliance traditional knowledge, green economy, and inclusive governance that could position the DRC as a global model of just ecological transition.