Africa’s oldest national park, which could be worth a billion dollars a year if developed sustainably, is under threat from oil exploration, campaigners have warned.
Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), made up of lakes, savannah, forests, volcanoes and home to the critically endangered mountain gorilla, could be worth £700 million annually, a report by charity WWF said.
The World Heritage site has the potential to generate 45,000 jobs through investments in the fishing industry, hydropower schemes and eco-tourism, which in neighbouring Rwanda is booming.
But 85% of the park has been allocated to oil concessions, with UK-based Soco International planning exploration with an aerial survey of Lake Edward and the surrounding savannah, despite calls by Unesco World Heritage Committee for oil companies not to explore in such sites.
Soco International’s licence area does not include the mountainous sector of the park which is home to the mountain gorillas, and the company has stated it will never seek to have operations in the gorilla habitat, the Virunga volcanoes or rainforest.
However WWF has warned oil development could damage wildlife, and lead to oil spills, pipeline leaks and gas flaring which could contaminate air, water and soil in the local environment. It could also have broader knock-on effects for the region.
A report by the environmental group said seismic surveys and exploration leads to clearance of natural vegetation and development of illegal settlements, fragmenting habitat for species such as elephants and providing access to poachers and rebels who are active in the North Kivu area.
Development of oil resources in an area which is prone to conflict and has a lack of governance makes pollution-free extraction “extremely difficult”, and rebel activity could make clearing up spills hard, the report warns.
It could also fuel further conflict, as minerals form the main source of export revenue and foreign exchange, and could be targeted by rebels for finance and lead to renewed instability. It could also worsen border conflicts, the study said.
But sustainable development in the region could see a trebling of the fishing industry in Lake Edward, which is currently targeted for exploration.
The industry provides employment for 27,000 people and is worth an estimated £20 million a year, a figure which could reach £60 million, the report said.
Electricity production from hydropower could double, providing a total of 10,000 jobs and be worth £6.5 million annually, the analysis by independent consultants Dalberg Global Development Advisors said.
And while the park is closed to tourists due to instability, efforts to end conflict, secure the park and protect its hundreds of species of plants and animals could see tourism take off in the longer term and bring in £150 million a year.
The park could also deliver indirect benefits worth millions of pounds, including storing carbon, protecting water resources and preventing erosion. There is also a huge value to knowing the park’s resources can be used in the future, the study argues.
Raymond Lumbuenamo, country director for WWF-Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), said Virunga was a precious asset which could have value for generations if it was kept as a conservation area.
“Once you turn it into an oil field you sell it once and it’s gone for good, it’s going to get destroyed, polluted, the beauty of it will go to waste,” he warned.
He said that with conservation, benefits might start slowly, but it would work for the last person on the ground, with tourism providing fishermen and farmers with markets to sell produce for visitors.He pointed to Rwanda which had just 1% of the park, but was making a lot of money out of tourism.
Oil development would only bring jobs for local people for the first couple of years, while the infrastructure was built, he warned, and would lead to just “three or four millionaires”.
And he said: “Virunga’s rich natural resources are for the benefit of the Congolese people, not for foreign oil prospectors to drain away.
“Our country’s future depends on sustainable economic development, and the livelihoods of over 50,000 people depend on this park.
“Oil extraction here could have devastating consequences for local communities that rely on Virunga for fish, drinking water and their other needs.”
Lasse Gustavsson, executive director of WWF International, said: “Oil companies are standing on the doorstep of one of the world’s most precious and fragile places, but we will not rest until Virunga is safe from this potential environmental disaster.
“Virunga has snow fields and lava fields but it should not have oil fields.”
Soco International’s chairman Rui de Sousa said: “Soco is extremely sensitive to the environmental significance of the Virunga National Park, and in fact I proposed to the chief executive of WWF that we should consider ways in which development and conservation, can work in partnership in North Kivu.
“Development and environmental sustainability are not mutually exclusive.”
He said that if DRC did proceed with oil exploration, an “accountable and responsible British company like Soco” would be the best operator in the circumstances, and a failure to explore for oil could lead to neighbours such as
Uganda exploiting the resource with no benefits for the DRC.
He added: “The Virunga National Park has been in decline for many years officially falling below the standards required for a World Heritage Site. The potential for development just might be the catalyst that reverses this trend.”
The planned aerial survey has been postponed due to the current security situation, Soco International said.
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