The MIT Technology Review recently covers why Virunga National Park, a national park in the Democratic Republic Congo, houses the world’s “first known Bicoin mine operated by a national park” run on clean energy. CIC’s Jason Stearns provides commentary for the piece.
Jason Stearns, the founder of NYU’s Congo Research Group and a former UN investigator who considers [Emmanuel] de Merode a friend, warns that militias too can benefit from hydropower, so it will not necessarily lead militants to drop their guns. “I admire Emmanuel’s tenacity and willingness to think outside the box,” he says, “but this ideology that the free market will bring peace flies in the face of the last 20 years in the Congo.”