EQX Biome Announces Proposal to Stop Oil Drilling in the Democratic Republic of Congo by Creating an Economically Successful Protected Area (ESPA)
New York, NY – January 25, 2023
EQX Investor Capital LLC (EQX Biome) announced today that it is working with a consortium of partners to offer a profitable alternative to oil drilling in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The consortium’s proposal will offer the country an opportunity to center its economic development on the protection of its nature, biodiversity, wildlife, and ecosystems rather than relying on extractive industries. The Congo Basin is the second largest continuous stretch of rainforest in the world and absorbs more carbon than the Amazon. The proposal is centered on stopping what could be the largest rainforest destruction to ever occur and instead create the world’s largest conservation project.
EQX Biome, through its wholly owned subsidiary Rainforest Defense Company, is finalizing its Expression of Interest to the DRC’s auction of oil blocks in the Congo Basin for submission by January 31, 2023. Its proposal is to establish a $6bn Economically Successful Protected Area (ESPA) covering 30% of the DRC’s natural areas in cooperation with key stakeholders, putting nature at the center of its economic development plans. The ESPA System, developed by EQX Biome, is a new conservation paradigm that leverages a for-profit business model to achieve high-quality conservation outcomes with the backing of private capital and financial markets.
“Drilling for oil in the Congo Basin would be catastrophic to the critical biodiversity, including thousands of species, in the region,” said Dr. Frauke Fischer, Head of Biodiversity Science at EQX Biome and a Member of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas and the Species Survival Commission. “This alternative conservation model has the power to scale in a way that can protect, conserve and reduce the risk of irreversible ecosystem loss in the rainforests and peatlands.”
The project is designed to counter oil drilling plans in the Congo thereby avoiding large-scale rainforest and peatland destruction. It has community development at its heart. The proposal is the first of its kind – a for-profit impact company bringing together stakeholder partners including financial investors, public funding mechanisms, corporations, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, leading international conservation groups, and community representatives.
The ESPA System will be funded by private capital sources and work in partnership with other funding mechanisms. The sale of carbon and biodiversity credits for avoided deforestation will provide a revenue stream for the system and investment returns to private investors. The System will provide taxes and royalties for the government, fund conservation outcomes, and focus on community development (including nature-centric employment and the protection of indigenous rights).
“Our proposal will offer an economically sustainable model to conserve one of the world’s most valuable natural resources, the Congo Basin, and allow it to thrive, expand, and scale over time, while creating tax and royalty revenues for the nation and its people,” said Dr. Matthias M. Pitkowitz, Founder & CEO of EQX Biome.
About EQX Biome
EQX Biome is a New York-based impact company focused on the mission of mobilizing financial markets towards protecting the worlds remaining biodiversity. EQX Biome arranges and finances large-scale, high-stakes conservation efforts around the world, creates a trusted marketplace for biodiversity and carbon credits and offers nature-based investments to institutional investors. Investment banking and securities-related services are provided through EQX LLC, member of FINRA and SIPC and registered as an Alternative Trading System with the SEC. The Rainforest Defense Company (RDC) is a wholly owned subsidiary of EQX Biome. The project in the DRC and ESPA are operated through RDC.
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