Seventeenth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability

Abstract

This paper discusses how local people’s ways of life in Congo basin can be likened to uranium pellets stacked together into sealed metal tubes called fuel rods, whose fission generates immense heat that turns water into steam which spins a turbine to produce carbon-free electricity. In other words, local people’s ways of life in the Congo basin are compressed and stagnated, such that their “fission” will generate sustainability means to both improve local living conditions and protect local living environment. As such, external (national/international) policies and actions must stimulate local people’s ways of life into fission that generates concepts and actions that translate into powerful sustainability means. Currently, well-known efforts to assure Congo basin and planet sustainability include on one hand international, regional, and national summits and policies, and on the other hand private for-profit and not-for-profit advocacy organizations worldwide. Allocated moneys are generally used for planting trees in urban areas, recycling, identifying areas of deforestation, conducting research that include satellite imaging and global monitoring, incentivizing green development and industry, etc. None of these include stimulating local people’s ways of life for fission that would generate best sustainability means to improve local living conditions and protect local living environment. The overall result in terms of improving on climate change is not satisfying. This paper shows that the best and most effective ways to assure that Congo basin plays its role of regulator of world’s climate is through local people’s ways of life becoming generator of means and tools of sustainability.