Abstract

Author:
Aymar Akilimali, Innocent Mufungizi, Jordan Muhindo Misungi, Hugues Cakwira

Doi: 10.26480/efcc.01.2024.09.11

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

Lake Kivu is located in Central Africa, between DR Congo and Rwanda. It is a lake that contains a large amount of methane gas and is susceptible to explosion due to the geological conditions (volcano) that exist in this region. This methane gas is toxic, asphyxiating and a greenhouse gas; all these characteristics make this methane gas from Lake Kivu an environmental problem as well as a serious threat to the human health of people living in the region where the lake is located. The greenhouse effect of this methane gas causes global warming. Global warming is now a public health and environmental issue because it promotes the spread of infectious agents and the deterioration of the quality of air, water and food. These factors contribute to an increase in cases of diseases, especially tropical and infectious diseases, as well as malnutrition. The government of the DR Congo should also consider methods of exploiting and using methane gas from Lake Kivu as electrical energy to reduce the risk of explosions and the human, environmental and ecological damage that this lake could cause.