WFP – Climate Crisis and Action in DRC, December 2023 – Democratic Republic of the Congo

The climate crisis is multiplying catastrophic weather-related events and is straining food systems which causes hunger to rise in DRC.

The increase in the number and severity of extreme weather events has led to destructive incidents claiming lives and uprooting people from their homes.

The last twelve months bore witness to two major incidents. 120 people were killed after heavy rains caused severe flooding in the Congolese capital Kinshasa in December 2022. Another 400 people were killed and 5,000 went missing in a mudslide that swept two villages into Lake Kivu in Kalehe territory in May 2023.

Territories, especially on the Congo River, are seeing thousands displaced due its rising level, with 250,000 people displaced in Equateur and Tshopo alone since 2021. While in Haut-Lomami another 170,000 people have been displaced from flooding.

Heavy rainfall is worsening the harsh conditions for those already merely surviving in internally displaced peoples’ and refugee camps. A cholera crisis ensued this year, due to poor sanitation in overcrowded camps amidst increasingly extreme conditions.2

Congolese livelihoods are increasingly at risk as the impacts of the climate crisis deepen. 70 percent of Congolese society is dependent on rainfed agriculture, which is incredibly susceptible to climate change. Variations in rainfall severely damage income opportunities, plummeting communities into poverty and food insecurity.

In turn, extreme living conditions contribute to political instability and fuel the conflict environment.

Furthermore, DRC is the world’s fourth most vulnerable to climate change impacts due to its low adaptation capacity to prepare communities for the uptick in weather catastrophes and variations.3 There is low investment in climate-resilient infrastructure and programmes.