SAVE VIRUNGA
Stop Oil Exploration in Africa's Oldest National Park
Companies must take action to respect the rights of communities at risk in East Africa’s oil frontier In research released today alongside FIDH and partner organizations, Oxfam highlighted the major risks of oil projects led by French energy giant Total in Uganda and Tanzania, which would require over 12,000 families to lose land and endanger… 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 was around 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday 03/03/2020 that a ranger was killed in an attack on the park a few steps from Nyamilima by the armed militia Mai Mai. An ambush was set up against the rangers who returned to their base while they were deployed to secure the construction of the electric fence… Read More
Protection of the environment by criminal law It is true that the criminal response comes when the crime has been committed, that it does not repair damage or prevent repetition, and that it rarely has dissuasive effects. It is also true that, because of its structural selectivity, the sanctioning function usually affects the most vulnerable… Read More
Blocks off Africa’s coast have already been snapped up by exploration companies but what of East Africa’s enormous great lakes? With exploration well underway in Lake Albert and plans laid down for Lake Malawi, Philip Kleinfeld looks at the social, political and environmental challenges. Lake Albert Uganda Blocks off Africa’s coast have already been snapped… Read More
Colonialism is often misunderstood or narrowly defined. Some mistakenly confine it to either a geographic area or an era. Others, convinced that colonialism is outmoded and passé, view it a system no longer operative in Africa and generally in the world. Still others narrow it to a system imposed by and serving only inhabitants and… Read More
Africa’s oldest and most biodiverse nature reserve is also its most dangerous. In 2018 alone, militia in Virunga National Park in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo killed twelve rangers during their work. Because of the violence, the park was closed to visitors since June 2018. Now he opens his doors again. Does the resource-rich Virunga still have… Read More
Cut Carbon Pollution, Show Political Willingness and Take on Corporate Power! PROBLEM “When we think about climate change, a recurring phrase is that we should ‘do our bit’ to reduce our footprint. Others harangue environmentalists for peddling ‘green guilt.’ Both of those, a positive and a negative, imply complicity: climate change is something we’re all… Read More
Virunga, one of the wonders of Africa, is home to rare gorillas—and plagued by violence and economic tension. BY ROBERT DRAPER PHOTOGRAPHS BY BRENT STIRTON This story appears in the July 2016 issue of National Geographic magazine. When the ranger studied the ragtag crew he was supervising, seven young men repairing a rugged road that… Read More
The huge national park in the Democratic Republic of Congo is one of the most dangerous conservation projects in the world. But thanks to the efforts of a committed force of rangers, populations of endangered species are recovering and locals say the park offers hope for the whole region. Jason Burke in Virunga national park,… Read More
Formal recognition would help protect those who increasingly risk their lives to defend the land, water, forests and wildlife, says the UN special rapporteur on human rights and the environment. By Jonathan Watts Global environment editor It is time for the United Nations to formally recognise the right to a healthy environment, according to the… Read More
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