OKAPI WILDLIFE RESERVE, Congo (AP) -- Scattered along the banks of the Ituri River, buildings cram together, cranes transport dirt and debris scatters the soil. The patches of trees are a scant reminder that a forest once grew there.
Nestled in eastern Congo's Ituri province, the Chinese-run gold mine is rapidly encroaching on an area that many say it shouldn't be operating in at all - the Okapi Wildlife Reserve, an endangered World Heritage site.
The original boundaries of the reserve were established three decades ago, by Congo's government and encompassed the area where the Chinese company now mines. But over the years under opaque circumstances, the boundaries shrunk, allowing the company to operate inside the plush forest.
The reserve was already on the endangered list, amid threats of conflict and wildlife trafficking. Now the rapid expansion of the Chinese mines threatens to further degrade the forest and the communities living within. Residents and wildlife experts say the mining's polluting the rivers and soil, decimating trees and swelling the population, increasing poaching, with little accountability.
"It is alarming that a semi-industrial mining operation is being given free rein in what's supposed to be a protected World Heritage Site, that was already on the danger list," said Joe Eisen, executive director, of Rainforest Foundation UK.
Spanning more than 13,000 square kilometers (5,000 square miles), the reserve became a protected site in 1996, due to its unique biodiversity and large number of threatened species, including its namesake, the okapi, a forest giraffe, of which it holds some 15% of the world's remaining 30,000. It's part of the the Congo Basin rainforest -- the world's second-biggest -- and a vital carbon sink that helps mitigate climate change. It also has vast mineral wealth such as gold and diamonds.
Mining is prohibited in protected areas, which includes the reserve, according to Congo's mining code.
Issa Aboubacar, a spokesperson for the Chinese company, Kimia Mining Investment, said the group is operating legally. It recently renewed its permits until 2048, according to government records.
Congo's mining registry said the map they're using came from files from the ICCN, the body responsible for managing Congo's protected areas, and it's currently working with the ICCN on updating the boundaries and protecting the park.
The ICCN told The Associated Press that in meetings this year with the mining registry the misunderstandings around the boundaries were clarified and the original ones should be used.
An internal government memo from August, seen by AP, said all companies in the Reserve will be closed down, including Kimia Mining. However, it was unclear when that would happen or how.
The document has not previously been reported and is the first acknowledging that the current boundaries are wrong, according to environmentalists working in Congo.
Rights groups in Congo have long said the permits were illegally awarded by the mining ministry based on inaccurate maps.
Eastern Congo's been beset by violence for decades and the Okapi Reserve's endured years of unrest by local militia.
In 2012, in Epulu town, a local rebel group slaughtered several residents including two rangers, as well as 14 okapis, the latter were part of a captive breeding program.
The reserve's also been threatened by artisanal -- small scale -- mining, by thousands of Indigenous peoples who live in and around the forest.
The Muchacha mine -- the biggest in the reserve and one of the largest small and medium scale gold mines in the country -- spans approximately 12 miles (19 kilometers) along the Ituri River and consists of several semi-industrial sites. Satellite images analyzed by AP show consistent development along the southwestern section of the Reserve, since it began operating in 2016, with a boom in recent years.
Joel Masselink, a geographer specializing in satellite imagery, who previously worked on conservation projects in the forest, said the mining cadastral -- the agency responsible for allocating mineral licenses -- is using a version of the reserve's maps in which the area's been shrunk by nearly a third. This has allowed it to award and renew exploration and extraction concessions, he said.
The mining cadastral told the U.N. that the boundaries were changed due to a letter from the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature, the body in charge of protected areas in Congo, but didn't provide a copy, said a report from U.N. experts. The ICCN told the AP it's never seen the letter and the boundaries used should be the original ones.
Changing World Heritage Site boundaries needs to be approved by UNESCO experts and the World Heritage Committee, which analyze the impact of the modification, a spokesperson for the World Heritage Center told AP. The Center said no request to modify the Reserve's boundaries had been made and that cases of boundary modifications to facilitate development were rare.
Civil society groups in Congo accuse some government officials of intentionally moving the boundaries for personal gain. "We all knew that Muchacha was within the reserve," said Alexis Muhima, executive director of the Congolese Civil Society Observatory for Peace Minerals. He said the discrepancy over the park's boundaries started when they realized the mine was producing large quantities of gold.
The U.N. report said mines are controlled by the military, and some members are under the protection of powerful business and political interests, with soldiers at times denying local officials access to the sites.
Residents, who once mined in the reserve, are infuriated by the double standard. "The community is worried, because the Chinese are mining in a protected area when it's forbidden for the community," said Jean Kamana, the chief of Epulu, a village inside the Reserve.
Despite being a protected forest, people still mined there until authorities cracked down, largely after the Chinese arrived. Kimia Mining grants limited access to locals to mine areas for leftovers, but for a fee that many can't afford, say locals.
Muvunga Kakule used to do artisanal mining in the reserve while also selling food from his farm to other miners. The 44-year-old said he's now unable to mine or sell produce as the Chinese don't buy locally. He's lost 95% of his earnings and can no longer send his children to private school.
Some residents told the AP there are no other options for work and have been forced to mine secretly and risk being jailed.
During a trip to the reserve earlier this year, Kimia Mining wouldn't let AP enter the site and the government wouldn't grant access to patrol the forest with its rangers.
But nearly two dozen residents, as well as former and current Kimia Mining employees from villages in and around the Reserve, told the AP the mining was decimating the forests and the wildlife and contaminating the water and land.
Five people who had worked inside Kimia's mines, none of whom wanted to be named for fear of reprisal, said when the Chinese finished in one area, they leave exposed, toxic water sources. Sometimes people would fall into uncovered pits and when it rains, water seeps into the soil.
Employees and mining experts say the Chinese use mercury in its operations, used to separate gold from ore. Mercury is considered one of the top ten chemicals of major public health concern by the U.N. and can have toxic effects on the nervous and immune systems.
One 27-year-old woman who worked as a cook for Kimia for six months and lives in Badengaido town, close to the mine, said the soil has become infertile. "(It's) poisoned by chemicals used by the Chinese," she said.
The AP could not independently verify her claim. However, a report from the University of Antwerp that researched the impact of conflict and mining on the Reserve said chemicals used to purify gold, such as mercury or cyanide, can enter the ecosystems and pollute the soil.
In the past, 15 kilograms (33 pounds) of peanut seeds would yield approximately 30 bags, but now it's hard to get three, she said. The loss of income has made it challenging to afford school and medical care for her siblings.
Assana, a fisher who also worked in the mines and only wanted to use his first name, said it now takes four days to catch the same amount of fish he used to get in a day. While doing odd jobs for the company last year, the 38-year-old saw the Chinese repeatedly chop swaths of forest, making the heat unbearable, he said.
Between last January and May, the reserve lost more than 480 hectares (1,186 acres) of forest cover -- the size of nearly 900 American football fields -- according to a joint statement from the Wildlife Conservation Society and government agencies, which said it was concerned at the findings.
Aboubacar, Kimia's spokesperson in Congo, said the company respects environmental standards and pays tax to the government for reforestation. Mining is a crucial revenue stream for Congo and it "can't place a higher value on the environment than on mining," he said.
Kimia is supporting the population and has employed more than 2,000 people, said Aboubacar.
Conservation groups are trying to protect the reserve, but say it's hard to enforce when there's ambiguity on the legalities.
"On the one hand, Congo's law clearly states that mining is illegal in protected areas. On the other hand, if a mine is operating with an official permit, then that creates confusion, and that becomes hard to enforce on the ground," said Emma Stokes, Vice President of field conservation for The Wildlife Conservation Society.
The internal memo, seen by AP, outlines discussions by a joint task force between the ICCN and Congo's mining registry, which was created to try and resolve the boundary issue. The document said it will trigger the process of stopping all mining within the Reserve and integrate the agreed upon map from the joint commission into the mining registry's system.
UNESCO's requested a report from Congo by February, to provide clarity on what will be done to resolve the problem.
But this comes as little comfort to communities in the reserve.
Wendo Olengama, a Pygmy chief, said the influx of thousands of people into the Chinese-run mines has increased poaching, making it hard to earn money.
During the authorized hunting season, he could capture up to seven animals a day, eating some and selling others. Now it's hard to get two, he said.
Sitting in a small hut beside his wife, as she bounces their 3-year-old granddaughter on her lap, the couple says they want the Chinese company to provide business opportunities, such as cattle raising and teach people responsible hunting.
"If the situation persists, we'll live in misery," said his wife, Dura Anyainde. "We wont have food to eat."
Associated Press reporter Jean-Yves Kamale contributed from Kinshasa.
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