British oil company Soco International announced to finally stop drilling in Africa's oldest Virunga National Park
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him
In Congo, Virunga national park is free from drills. Salvi and gorilla, save the environment. Thanks to the long battle of the WWF, the British oil company Soco International announced to finally put an end to drilling in Africa's oldest national park.
The Soco will withdraw from the Virunga volcano park after concluding its current operational activities, which mainly concern the seismic test in Lake Edward, committing to stay out of all other Unesco World Heritage sites.
“Today is a victory for our planet and for good practices in the world of multinationals. This success is the fruit of the work of government officials, activists within the Democratic Republic of the Congo and supporters from around the world who have joined together to help remove the most immediate threat to Virunga ", he said Marco Lambertini, new Director General of the WWF International.
WWF took to the field in October 2013 when it exhibited one at the OECD complaint against the Soco and at the same time started a collection of signatures to counteract oil extraction activities all to the detriment of such a precious and delicate ecosystem.
A success to be taken, however, with a grain of salt, since now the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo will in turn have to commit itself so that the Virunga park reaffirms itself as a "universal value belonging to all humanity", effectively canceling all oil concessions that still exist in the park.
But a sign in favor of the local environment and fauna was nevertheless put in the door. There biodiversity of the place is something so extraordinary which could become an important economic factor for the entire community (more than 50 thousand families, for example, depend on the resources of Lake Edward for work, food and drinking water).
In short, the Virunga National Park can and must be relaunched in eco-sustainable terms, through fishing, the sustainable use of resources and, why not, also throughecotourism. And obviously protecting rare animals such as mountain gorillas, already in great danger of extinction.
Germana Carillo
Photo: wwf.panda.org
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