SAVE VIRUNGA
Stop Oil Exploration in Africa's Oldest National Park
Move follows film backed by Leonardo DiCaprio and pleas by local NGOs, environmentalists, transparency campaigners and members of the UK Parliament to protect Congo’s Virunga park. The church – led by archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, a former oil executive – has said that it may sell its near £3m stake in Soco International unless… Read More
“As she serves us a dinner of Lake Edward tilapia—grilled with onions and cassava leaves, and accompanied by fried potatoes and extra pili pili sauce—she delivers an assessment of Soco that most residents of the area would agree with. A future of oil, she fears, will destroy Lake Edward’s fish and pollute the local land and water,… Read More
The actor turned environmentalist adds of ‘Virunga’: “You have grassroots people on the ground risking their lives for these last remaining places that are so vital” Leonardo DiCaprio has been an avid environmentalist for over 15 years, and started his own foundation in 1998 to preserve endangered species and their habitats, among other goals. This… Read More
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
Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai speaks on the relationship between scarce natural resources and global conflict. The following insight from the platform for exchange on Environment, Conflict and Cooperation (ECC) highlights the importance of nature protection in securing vital livelihoods and supporting the reduction of conflicts. One more piece of evidence that protecting Virunga and its vital ecosystems will contribute to livelihood… Read More
‘Drillers in the mist’: How secret payments and a climate of violence helped UK firm open African national park to oil British oil company Soco Internationaland its contractors havemade illicit payments, appear to have paid off armed rebels and benefited from fear and violence fostered by government security forces in eastern Congo, as they sought… Read More
By Robert Redford (Actor, director and Environmental Activist) The art of storytelling is at our core. It’s the lifeblood of how we communicate and how we decide what deserves our attention and what we are content to ignore as a passing fad. We’ve accomplished storytelling on the silver screen and the latest Internet meme, but… Read More
Government, investors and host communities have to make a choice between sustaining sacred natural sites and territories, water and communities’ food sovereignty; or sacrificing them in favour of short-term benefits from mining and extractive activities, says a new report by the National Association of Professional Environmentalists (NAPE) and the Gaia Foundation. The choice is stark:… Read More
Virunga, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, is Africa’s oldest national park, and home to half the continent’s endangered mountain gorillas. It is one of the world’s great heritage sites with three thousand square miles of precious flora and fauna. Since 2010, the British firm SOCO International has been exploring the region for… Read More
On July 11th of this year North-Kivu Civil Society Groups wrote a Memorandum to the Director-General of the UNESCO, Ms Irina Bokova, reiterating their views against oil exploration in Virunga National park and expressing their deep concerns in front of the possible redrawing of the park boundaries in order to accommodate oil exploration and exploitation… Read More
“Protecting the jobs of the fishermen is extremely important. Fishermen are the bread earners of their fishing villages, of their communities. Poor people are more dependent than the rest of us on Natural resources. A development process that protects the environment is also a development process that takes them into account. That lifts them above… Read More
The Africa Progress Panel (APP) consists of ten distinguished individuals who advocate for equitable and sustainable development for Africa. Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations and Nobel laureate, chairs the Panel and is closely involved in its day-to-day work. This article is an excerpt of the last African Progress Panel’s report, Grain Fish… Read More
SAVE VIRUNGA 