Keep Oil Exploration Out of Virunga National Park
Virunga National Park is Africa's oldest national park. It could soon become Africa's newest oil field.
British oil company Soco International PLC plans to explore for oil inside the park, even though the park is protected under Democratic Republic of Congo law. More than 27,000 people fish in Lake Edward and it provides drinking water to 50,000 people. But thousands more benefit from locally sourced fish, renewable energy and other park-related activities.
Oil development in the park would threaten local communities that rely on the park's natural resources and jeopardize the region's potential for long-term income from sustainable development.
Tell Soco and government leaders that Virunga is too important to open up for oil exploration.
I stand with the hundreds of thousands of others who are declaring Virunga National Park be off-limits for oil exploration. Virunga is far too valuable to be destroyed for short-term financial gain.
I want Soco and government leaders to know that Virunga is extraordinary, that oil exploration will place it in peril, and that Africa's oldest park should remain protected and unexploited.
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