Essay --

Dear President, As you very well know, climate change is one of the biggest challenges of the current age. While few countries in the area are able to work on mitigation and adaption, The Republic of Congo has been diligent in passing laws that can further preserve our planet. I am writing this letter to talk about what positive impacts have come from the recent laws set in place, as well as advise a plan for furthering the mitigation of climate change in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Two new laws have been passed stating that the removal of any natural resources from the rainforest, including trees and minerals, is permanently banned. Timber and mining companies may no longer operate in the rain forest. In addition, to decrease the poaching of animals and trees in the rainforest, a drastic increase in the penalties for poaching will be issued and the consequences are up to and including potential life in prison. Also a large increase in the funding of efforts to prevent poaching and capture poachers has been set in place. In retrospect to the new laws put into place, there will be pros and cons of the effect that the law has on the Ba’aka people, the logging and mining workers, the poachers of bushmeat and ivory, and congolese environmentalists. The Ba’aka peoples nomadic lifestyle is less damaging to the rainforest environment because it allows the group to move without over-exploiting the local game and forest resources. Most African forest people spend much of the year near a village where they trade bush meat and honey for manioc, produce, and other goods. In contrast when there was an allowance of poaching and removal of natural resources, the Ba’aka people ran low on the bushmeat and found the forest inhabitable due t... ... due to the law, they can bring about a rich future and help teach the native people how to utilize their resources to the highest ability. The con that this law has on the environmentalists is now they have less funding from the government to support their research because more money is going into the prevention of poaching. This could harm the conservation process of environmentalists because they need funding in order to sustain the ecosystem. I am writing this letter today to ask for your consideration in the funding of environmental conservation in the rainforests of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Please consider the facts that I have laid out, together we have the ability to raise awareness within the community to help lessen the environmental impacts that ultimatley induce climate change. Thank you for your time and attention. Sincerely, Hayley Kievman