We really need to talk about the DR Congo more. The DRC is an exceptional country and includes stunning biodiversity, the worlds second biggest river & tropical rainforest and incredibly fertile soil. Unfortunately due to horrific colonization and mass slavery (often to produce goods for Europe & America), the Congo has a war torn past that continues today whilst undergoing volatile elections right now. Though we all want the horrific poverty and civil war to end, certain leaders & foreign companies would love for peace to reign so they can further mine & deplete the country of their resources; resources that we all benefit from greatly already whilst the people of the Congo suffer in one of the greatest atrocities of our time.
The DRC is quite literally a goldmine. Not only for gold but for abundant amounts of copper, uranium, cobalt, diamonds, rubber and oil. It is a nation nearly all of us utilize and all of us ignore; unwilling to do the hard work with the Congolese to support and help as much as possible after the trauma that the West consistently inflicted. The incredible people and environment are worth the most enduring of our efforts to assist with alleviating poverty, progression (in their desired model) and protection. Leaving the country to continue languishing whilst profiting from their resources (mostly for our technological goods these days) would be one of the horrors of our generation.
The biggest actions we can all individually take are to pressure international mining companies for far more transparency & far higher standards of environmental practises whilst the country does not have the proper laws to govern this, call and email any local govt ministers who have anything to do with mining, development, foreign aid & the Congo to pressure them into action, and support (with money, time & skills) local organizations within the Congo doing extremely difficult work (especially education & conservation).
For more on how the Congo got to this point we highly recommend reading the quick overview at the BBC DR Congo: Cursed by its natural wealth.
