Save Virunga supports IGEN-EA Vision for a Sustainable and Inclusive Economy for Generations to Come!

Today, May 21, 2021, a new network of Ugandans and East Africans from across civil society and the private sector have united to promote a new vision for a green East African economy and advocate for strategic investments across a diversity of sustainable, inclusive industries. Named the Inclusive Green Economy Network-East Africa (IGEN-EA), the network… Read More

Meet the Team that Protects Virunga: EU, GWC and Leo

After an exceptionally challenging year for biodiversity conservation across the world because of the coronavirus pandemic, the European Union, environmentalist and Academy Award ® -winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio, and Global Wildlife Conservation (GWC) launched two initiatives to better protect the planet in 2021 worth €34 million today. Both initiatives -a Rapid Response for Ecosystems, Species… Read More

Dodgy Deal 4: Oil in East Africa, Communities at Risk! Save Murchison Falls!

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

Dodgy Deal 1: Kipay and PowerChina’s Sombwe Dam in DRC Upemba 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

New Armed Attack Against Virunga: Enough is Enough, Time to Act Says DRC Civil Society

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

Virunga Covid-19 and Africa’s National Parks: ‘Utter and Total Devastation’ 

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

Virunga: God Always Forgives, We Forgive Sometimes, but Nature Never Forgives

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

Local Concerns about the Increased Insecurity In and Around Virunga National Park

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

A Message From and For Virunga Team: We Mourn and Continue Working for Peace

“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

Destroying the Earth is a Sin and Ecocide a Crime Against Peace

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

1.000 Reasons to Save Murchison Falls National Park

In Uganda, In Uganda, Murchison Falls is Number 1 China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) is one of the largest construction groups in the world. In Uganda, it built the 40-kilometer expressway between Entebbe Airport and the capital city, Kampala. The Export Import Bank of China is involved in the destruction of the Murchison Falls National… Read More

1.000 Reasons to Save Virunga: Building the Movement of Resistance to Oil

The Great Lakes that link Uganda and the DRC are home to some of the most diverse wildlife on the planet, as well as diverse cultures and people. They also contain oil and gas deposits that many companies want to exploit. Local communities are concerned about how the oil industry will affect their lives. After… Read More