SAVE VIRUNGA
Stop Oil Exploration in Africa's Oldest National Park
“We are capable of bold, redemptive, and generous action, and such action is required of us now.” Excerpt from On E.B. White’s Urgent Calls for Environmental Justice Megan Mayhew Bergman Revisits The New Yorker’s “Anonymous” Editorials …. We believe we are superior to other tribes and nations, but also other life forms. Human exceptionalism is… 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
“One of the major tenets behind the creation of a national park, or other protected area, is that it will not fade, but remain in essence beyond the pressures of human society, enjoyed by current generations while being preserved for future ones. The protected area is a gift, in a way, handed from one wise… Read More
What is happening to Murchison Falls Protected Area, Uganda’s largest, oldest, and most visited protected area? And how can Virunga, Queen Elizabeth and so many other endangered protected and high biodiversity areas survive oil and infrastructure expansion in the region? Like if it was note enough to have oil drilling in this protected area now… Read More
During the East African petroleum and exhibition conference held on May 8, 2019 in Mombasa, the minister of Energy and Mineral Development, Irene Muloni, announced the second licensing open bidding of five oil blocks to further Uganda’s commercial interests in oil production. This also included two oil blocks of Ngagi and Turaco that had hitherto… 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
Strengthening the rule of law is critical to protecting environmental, social, and cultural values and to achieving ecologically sustainable development. Without the environmental rule of law and the enforcement of legal rights and obligations, environmental governance, conservation, and protection may be arbitrary, subjective, and unpredictable. The environmental rule of law and robust institutions are essential… Read More
Wangari Maathai, the Kenyan activist and first environmentalist to win a Nobel Peace Prize, liked to tell a story about a determined hummingbird: ‘A huge wildfire consumed the forest where the hummingbird lived, and as the fire raged, all the animals left the forest and stood watching, transfixed and overwhelmed. They all felt so overwhelmed… Read More
“I am gorilla… I am flowers, animals. I am nature. Man Koko love. Earth Koko love. But man stupid… Stupid! Koko sorry. Koko cry. Time hurry! Fix Earth! Help Earth! Hurry! Protect Earth… Nature see you. Thank you.” In memory of Koko (1971 – 2018) More ate : Buzzworthy Disclaimer Koko was invited to represent… Read More
“I dream of our vast deserts, of our forests, of all our great wildernesses. We must never forget that it is our duty to protect this environment.” — Nelson Mandela. On December 10th we commemorate Human Rights Day, the day the United Nations General Assembly adopted in 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This… Read More
The latest Living Planet report from the WWF makes for grim reading: a 60% decline in wild animal populations since 1970, collapsing ecosystems, and a distinct possibility that the human species will not be far behind. The report repeatedly stresses that humanity’s consumption is to blame for this mass extinction, and journalists have been quick… Read More
September 24 marks World Gorilla Day, when humanity celebrates one of its closest relatives, sharing 98 percent of our DNA as we do, plus we also have a common ancestor that lived not too long ago in evolutionary terms, around 10 million years ago. All species of gorillas are critically endangered according to the Red… Read More
