Virunga National Park threatened by British oil company!

Virunga National Park, situated on the eastern border of the Democratic Republic of Congo, is the oldest national park in Africa and consists of 7800km squared of savanna, lava plains, swamps, erosion valleys, forests, active volcanoes and the ice fields of the Rwenzori mountains. The park is home to many species including 200 mountain Gorillas that are critically endangered with as little as 880 individuals existing worldwide. 

The park is a World Heritage site and a Ramsar wetland of international importance but this appears to be of little importance to British oil company Soco International PLC who are pursuing approval to carry out exploration and oil extraction in the park. 

Such activities are illegal in this protected area of the Democratic Republic of Congo and may be extremely damaging to the ecosystems that exist there. According to WWF, significant oil exploitation may consist of; disruptive seismic tests, deforestation, deep underground drilling and the laying of oil pipelines. The increase of human presence may also be detrimental to the animals residing in the park. 

The park is thought to contain more individual species than almost anywhere else in the world and, with the planned areas for exploration covering up to 85% of the land there, endangered animals such as chimps, hippos, okapi and forest elephants are in danger of having their habitats destroyed. There are over 200 species of mammal living in the park and over 700 types of bird. 

Even the British government have made it clear that they strongly oppose the oil extraction but the London-based company are still moving forward with their proposal.

You can help stop the go-ahead of this by signing this petition NOW!