SAVE VIRUNGA
Stop Oil Exploration in Africa's Oldest National Park
Africa’s oldest national park is under threat – 60 NGOs sign call for action. Virunga is Africa’s oldest national park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most bio-diverse areas on the planet. For the past three years Global Witness has been driving a major international campaign to stop oil companies drilling in… Read More
National Geographic Explorer investigates the execution-style murder of six mountain gorillas in Virunga National Park. Their search reveals corruption and how Virunga has become one of the most dangerous places on earth. In July 2008 a haunting photo comes out of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It depicts a family of six rare mountain… Read More
Below is Patrice Lumumba’s* Letter to his wife Pauline Lumumba in 1960 before he was assassinated. My beloved companion, I write you these words not knowing whether you will receive them, when you will receive them, and whether I will still be alive when you read them. Throughout my struggle for the independence of my country, I have never… Read More
2016 Virunga is much more than the oldest national park in Africa VIRUNGA IS #Life #People #Nature #Beauty #Wildlife #Congo #Hope #SustainableDevelopment #GreenEconomy #Stability #TransformativeGrowth #Change #Biodiversity #Earth #WorldHeritage #EcosystemServices #Gorilla #Livelihoods #Tourism #Unesco #LakeEdward #OutstandingUniversalValues #HumanRight #HealthyEnvironment #LocalVoices #EndangeredSpecies #CongoHeritage
The exploitation of natural resources has proven to be a major driver of conflict in DRC and the Great Lakes region. Oil exploration in Virunga has followed the same track with a poor local engagement, the total exclusion of communities from decision making and the criminalization of local protests against oil. In light of the… Read More
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) used to bring to mind images of civil war and conflict. Lately, the country is conjuring another image: that of trendsetters. The sapeur fashion movement has inspired designers from around the world, including, most recently, British designer Paul Smith, and homegrown musicians, like Papa Wemba and Koffi Olomide, have… Read More
“Oil: the fossil fuel responsible for the dispute over Virunga National Park in Congo” By Jakub Szweda Congolese people fight for their stability and food security after prospecting search for oil by a British company. SOCO International, in 2007, has signed a production-sharing contract for Block 5 Albertine Grahen, permitting them to enter over a half of… Read More
Costs of Company-Community Conflict in the Extractive Sector The Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining at The University of Queensland (UQ), and the Harvard Kennedy School have published new research that has uncovered the true scale of the costs companies incur when they come into conflict with local communities. View & Download the Academic Paper … Read More
The Impossibility of Growth: Why collapse and salvation are hard to distinguish from each other By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 28th May 2014 Let us imagine that in 3030BC the total possessions of the people of Egypt filled one cubic metre. Let us propose that these possessions grew by 4.5% a year. How big… Read More
Pope Francis challenges unfettered capitalism and places focus on the protection of the environment. The pope calls for “respect and protection of the entire creation which God has entrusted to man, not so that it be indiscriminately exploited but rather made into a garden.” Pope Francis has published his first Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (the… Read More
Congo Tony visits Congo, the setting of one of his favorite books, Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, and the basis for one of his favorite movies, the classic Apocalypse Now. The Congo is a place where everything is fine — until it isn’t By: Anthony Bourdain, CNN “Whispering, come and find out.” “Going up that river was… Read More
Rumangabo, DR Congo — After almost twenty years of armed conflict in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Virunga National Park today released the details of a 10-year plan to re-invigorate the local economy and create tens of thousands of new jobs as a peace-building initiative in the conflict affected areas of eastern… Read More
SAVE VIRUNGA 