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Theodore Trefon. 2016. Congo's Environmental Paradox: Potential and Predation in a Land of Plenty. London: Zed Books. 194 pp.
Theodore Trefon examines and then provides an excellent overview of the major ecological resources in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with concise socio-political analysis. The book is about the "political economy of natural resources in the DRC" (p. 1). It reveals the various land, forest, minerals, and environmental resources in the DRC. Reading this book is essential for understanding the many environmental paradoxes that exist in the DRC.
Why is the Congo Basin (most of it in the DRC) "home to the world's second-largest contiguous tropical rainforest after the Amazon" (p. 14), yet, these forest resources have not been harnessed to benefit the livelihood of Congolese? Why are there more than a thousand minerals (including 46 percent of the global supply of cobalt), yet it has not helped in alleviating "the dire poverty of Congo's 70 million people" (p. 16)? Why does the DRC have "abundant arable land and an ideal balance of rainfall and sunshine"-in fact, experts claim that the DRC...