Uganda should not license an oil exploration block close to neighbouring Congo\u2019s Virunga National Park because drilling would harm the park\u2019s ecosystem, 60 local and international environmental groups said on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The east African country of Uganda discovered crude reserves in its Albertine rift basin near its border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 2006.<\/p>\n
In its latest licensing round, the first to be conducted competitively, six blocks covering about 3,000 square kilometres (1160 square miles) are expected to be handed out early this year.<\/p>\n
Sixteen oil firms are competing for the blocks, including Britain\u2019s Tullow, France\u2019s Total and China\u2019s CNOOC, which are all already operating in Uganda.<\/p>\n
But oil exploration in Ngaji, one of the six blocks, \u201ccould have a devastating impact on the (Virunga) UNESCO World Heritage Site,\u201d the environmental groups said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Signatories included London-based environmental watchdog Global Witness and Greenpeace, an environmental body with offices in more than 40 countries.<\/p>\n
Ngaji extends over Lake Edward, which straddles Uganda\u2019s border with DRC and forms part of the Virunga, Africa\u2019s oldest and most bio-diverse national park. It\u2019s also home to endangered mountain gorillas.<\/p>\n
British petroleum firm Soco International conducted seismic testing on a block in Virunga in 2014, drawing protests from environmentalists.<\/p>\n
\u201cDrilling for oil in Lake Edward may have a devastating impact on both Virunga and the local people and wildlife in Uganda,\u201d George Boden, a senior campaigner at Global Witness, said in the statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe governments of Uganda and Congo need to act urgently to stop oil exploration in the entire lake for good.\u201d<\/p>\n
The exploration area also covers a part of the 1,978 square kilometre Queen Elizabeth National Park, a top Ugandan tourist destination teeming with buffalo, lions, elephants and other prized game.<\/p>\n
Bukenya-Matovu Yusuf, spokesperson for Uganda\u2019s energy ministry, said environmentalists\u2019 concerns were unjustified.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow about UK drilling in the North Sea or offshore drilling all over the world \u2026 no one is talking about endangering marine life there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe problem is not drilling in a national park or lake but doing it in a responsible and sensitive manner and we\u2019re experts in that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Large parts of the Ugandan side of the Albertine area extend over national parks and game reserves, including Murchison Falls. The government has previously handed out drilling licences in those areas despite protests from environmentalists.<\/p>\n
Source:Africa News:[DRC calls on Uganda to stop oil activity in Virunga, Africa\u2019s oldest natural park->http:\/\/www.africanews.com\/2016\/01\/21\/drc-calls-on-uganda-to-stop-oil-activity-in-virunga-africa-s-oldest-natural-park\/]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Uganda should not license an oil exploration block close to neighbouring Congo\u2019s Virunga National Park because drilling would harm the park\u2019s ecosystem, 60 local and international environmental groups said on Thursday. The east African country of Uganda discovered crude reserves in its Albertine rift basin near its border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2000071675,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[99],"byline":[2539],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-22702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-greatlakesnews","byline-africa-news"],"bylines":[{"id":2539,"name":"Africa News","slug":"africa-news","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"contributors":[{"id":2539,"name":"Africa News","slug":"africa-news","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"featured_image":{"id":2000071675,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton22702.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton22702.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton22702.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton22702.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton22702.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton22702.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000071675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22702"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=22702"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=22702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}