Plans by the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to open up its national parks for oil exploration have sparked renewed opposition from environmental groups to upstream development in one of Africa’s most treasured protected areas. Kinshasa aims to reclassify parts of its Salonga and Virunga national parks in central and eastern DRC, respectively, to circumvent protection given to the parks as Unesco world heritage sites. London-listed independent Soco International in 2014 was forced to drop plans to conduct exploration in Virunga, following opposition from environmental groups to oil and gas activity in Africa’s oldest national park, which is home to threatened mountain gorillas.
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