Diplomatic World nummer 54

Kid carrying heavy wood near Kasangulu, outskirts of Kinshasa.
© Shutterstock
What would be the impact of the Marshall Plan
on the environment? What would be the impact on
forests, animals, and so on?
I have had the opportunity to work for the World Bank
around projects with a potential impact on the environment.
I am very careful and sensitive to this topic. In the case of
the Congo, I know that acceleration of industrialization
can mess with the balance. Exploiting the forests, for
example to develop the wood industry, could lead to great
deforestation. Building the roads could also have an impact
on the environment. Any project that will be carried out
in the framework of this Marshall Plan, whether it’s a part
of the industrialization programme or the infrastructure
programme, will need to be evaluated through theoretical
research well in advance, to determine the impact on the
environment. Only projects that don’t have a negative
impact on the environment will be approved and carried
out. If it does have a negative impact, specialists will
propose adjustments to the project in order to mitigate the
impact on the environment. For example, if we are going to
make chairs out of the wood gathered from the Equatorial
forest in the Congo, we need to make sure that the cut down
trees are replaced by 2 or 3 new trees.
population is safe. I notice that in Brussels, for example,
there are barely any trees. We can learn from the ones that
have accelerated the industrialization before us, like the
Belgians. The environment is definitely something we will
protect.
I didn’t work out this Marshall Plan overnight. It took a lot
of time. The first article I published on this Marshall Plan
was in 2003. Each year, I have been talking to different
people, Congolese people, people from other nationalities,
and people from different sectors. This programme has
slowly matured and has reached a stage where it’s finished
and ready to be used to rebuild the country.
I am just sad to see that, from 1960 until today, the Congo
has been led without a vision. It’s like building a house
without having a plan about how to build the basement,
the first floor, and so on. The advantage of this plan is that,
at least, we would have a vision and a plan, even though
it might not be perfect. The plan is designed by us and if
all the Congolese work together on it, the outside world
will have no choice but to accompany us. Even if we make
mistakes, it’s still our plan.
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The impact on the environment needs to be minimal,
because an accelerated industrialization is worthless if
everyone is dying because there is no more oxygen. So, we
are very careful with that. We need to make sure that the
Bruno Devos & Barbara Dietrich