DRC might explore for oil in protected habitat of mountain gorillas
Kinshasa — The Democratic Republic of Congo is considering whether to open up swathes of two world-famous national parks to oil exploration. A decision to allow a search for crude may threaten Virunga National Park, home to many of the about 1,000 mountain gorillas still alive, and Salonga National Park, the world’s second-biggest tropical rainforest reserve. A committee is being established to debate the proposal as Congo plans to increase crude output from the 25,000 barrels a day it produces from ageing oil blocks along the Atlantic Ocean coast. "We are in the middle of putting together this inter-institutional commission," Emmanuel Kayumba, chief of staff in DRC’s oil ministry, said in an interview in the capital, Kinshasa. Mountain gorillas are critically endangered, according to the Nairobi-based African Wildlife Foundation. They’re mainly found in eastern Congo, along with neighbouring Uganda and Rwanda, where they serve as an attraction for tourists who pay to trek into fore...
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