SAVE VIRUNGA
Stop Oil Exploration in Africa's Oldest National Park
About Sombwe Dam In June 2019, PowerChina and the Congolese company Kipay Investments Sarl signed a joint venture for the construction of the 150 megawatt (MW) Sombwe hydropower plant in the DRC. The proposed USD 400 million Sombwe complex includes a dam, reservoir, and road works. The hydropower plant is located inside Upemba National Park, one of the… Read More
On 30 July, oil giant Total wrote off $8bn of its fossil fuel reserves, admitting they were stranded assets that would never be used due to weak oil demand and the impact these assets would have on the climate. By Mohamed Adow Founding Director of Power Shift Africa, a climate and energy think tank, based… Read More
This is what it is all about… Our fight is not just a fight about oil — it’s a fight about a different way of living by Nemonte Nenquimo The following piece is quoted directly from the keynote address of Ceibo Alliance co-founder Nemonte Nenquimo, who traveled from her home in the remote Ecuadorian Amazon to… Read More
The planet Earth in its present mode of florescence is being devastated. This devastation is being fostered and protected by legal, political and economic establishments that exalt the human community while offering no protection to the non-human modes of being. There is an urgent need for a Jurisprudence (system of governance) that recognizes that the… Read More
New armed attack, perpetrated in the morning of Wednesday 24 June 2020, against guards of the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature (ICCN), inside the Virunga National Park. After the terrible killing of four civilians and 13 staff members of Virunga National Park on 24 April, this latest attack fills us with consternation and… Read More
Closed to tourists, pandemic is taking major toll on Virunga’s finances, local economy, as park reels from recent violence. SOPHIE NEIMAN June 2, 2020 Stretching some 3,000 square miles, Virunga National Park, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is the oldest and most biodiverse national park on the African continent. It was designated a… Read More
Despite the global plunge in oil prices, a major pipeline that would carry oil 900 miles across East Africa is moving ahead. International experts warn that the $20 billion project will displace thousands of small farmers and put key wildlife habitat and coastal waters at risk. BY FRED PEARCE • MAY 21, 2020 Imagine a tropical version of… Read More
This is the time to take the decisive step, to move from using and misusing nature to contemplating it. We have lost the contemplative dimension; we have to get it back at this time. Excerpt from “Pope Francis says pandemic can be a ‘place of conversion’” by Austen Ivereigh I was curious to know if the Pope… Read More
More than 265 civil society groups around the world are calling upon the Chinese government to ensure that COVID-19 related financial relief for struggling Belt and Road projects flows only to high quality overseas investments that meet stringent criteria aimed at protecting people and safeguarding the environment. The organizations urged China to avoid bailing out projects… Read More
More than 20 local civil society groups in North Kivu have expressed their concerns with regard to the surge of insecurity in and around Virunga National Park. It is with deep consternation that we learned today, Thursday, 24 April 2020, of the attack on a convoy of the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature… Read More
“It is with great sadness that Virunga National Park confirms that today, 24 April 2020, there has been a significant attack by armed groups near Rumangabo …” Last Friday, 4 civilians & 13 colleagues and friends were slaughtered. Khadafi, Lumumba, Djamali, Junior, Jean-Louis, Joseph, Ruphin, Jeannot, Augustin, Jacques, Héritier, Moise and Justin. They were in their… Read More
Food for thoughts from Yashar Ali … Sadly, I’ve been expecting this. Soon, I’ll be sharing what I’m doing to help mitigate this crisis Source: NYTimes Threatened and endangered animals may become additional casualties of the pandemic This story is framed around how the loss of billions of tourism revenue is impacting the protection of… Read More
