Press Releases

CRISIS IN THE VIRUNGA NATIONAL PARK -
Illegal clearing of the Virunga National Park halted

Nairobi, 30 August 2004 - Following the pressure applied by UNEP, governmental agencies and conservation NGOs, the governments of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo have put an end to the illegal clearing of forests in the Virunga National Park in DRC.

UNEP has a contributed US$50,000 towards the construction of a perimeter wall in the Mikeno sub sector of the park, which is being implemented by GRASP partner organizations, the International Gorilla Conservation Project and World Wide Fund for Nature together with the Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS), the European Commission and the Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN).

The illegal invasion of the park by settlers from Rwanda in April had threatened the integrity of the park as a World Heritage Site and home to the remaining population of the endangered mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei). 15km2 of the 250km2 of the Mikeno Sub sector of the park had been cleared by the time pressure on the local authorities to step in and stop the forest clearing bore fruit. In an effort to avoid a repetition of such events, the above organizations are constructing a dry stone wall to clearly demarcate the park boundary from the human settlement areas.
The attached report prepared by the FZS contains further information on the construction of the wall.

Report on the construction of a drystone wall to re-establish the park limits of the Mikeno sector, Virunga National Park

Previous documents: CRISIS IN THE VIRUNGA NATIONAL PARK - Progress Report

More information on the Virunga National Park