Seismic tests in Lake Edward.
June 2012. The committee overseeing World Heritage Sites yesterday cautioned that petroleum exploration in Virunga National Park could cause serious harm and should be halted. WWF, the Wildlife Conservation Society, Fauna & Flora International, the Frankfurt Zoological Society and the Lukuru Foundation welcome this strong position and urge the DRC government and oil companies to act on it.
Expressing its concern over recent actions by petroleum companies, the World Heritage Committee reiterated its position that oil development is incompatible with World Heritage status. In the Committee's decisions, passed at its annual meeting, the committee also called on the Democratic Republic of the Congo to revoke permits granted to exploration companies.
Hostile to the park
British oil company SOCO International, which has already begun activities in Virunga, was criticized in the State of Conservation report on Virunga as being "hostile to the park". The committee said SOCO's permits did not conform to Democratic Republic of the Congo's international commitments.
SOCO states that "it will never seek to have operations in the mountain gorilla habitat, the Virunga Volcanoes or the Virunga equatorial rainforest." This ignores the point that much large areas of Virunga, Africa's oldest National Park, lie outside the gorilla habitat. It seems that SOCO belive that this area will be fair game.
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