Virunga National Park

"Virunga is Africa’s oldest national park and a treasured World Heritage Site. It’s the size of a small country, straddling the equator in Democratic Republic of the Congo."

According to a report from November 2018: "The EU has committed €20 million to protect forests, support biodiversity conservation, and combat illegal wildlife trafficking in the Congo Basin.

"During the 18th Meeting of the Parties of the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP) in Brussels, the EU signed four projects for the benefit of countries situated in the Congo Basin: Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Central African Republic (CAR), Cameroon and Gabon. The projects address charcoal trafficking in Virunga National Park and the protection of Lake Edward in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the protection of the Dzanga Sangha Park in Central African Republic and the fight against wildlife and forest crime in the region. Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica, said: ”The EU is and remains strongly committed to conserving biodiversity, as well as combating illegal wildlife trafficking and tackling deforestation in the Congo Basin. The four new EU projects, with additional funding of €20 million, will bring economic benefits to local populations while protecting a unique ecosystem.”" Implementing partner: Virunga Foundation [1]

Resources and articles

Related Sourcewatch

• Emmanuel de Merode
• Brad Goodhart
• Lihamba Samuel Boendi
• Virunga Fund
• Virunga Alliance
• Thin Green Line Foundation
• Conrad Thorpe - former paratrooper [2]
• Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation