New exploration tests concerns for park life

摘要

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is providing a test for how future regional exploration in Africa’s environ- mentally sensitive areas can proceed. UK firm Soco International has encountered a barrage of protests from environmental and non-governmental groups over its plans to explore for oil in block 5 in the east of the DRC, adjacent to commercial oil discoveries in Uganda’s Lake Albert basin. Block 5 includes the Virunga national park — a UN world heritage site and home to one of only two mountain gorilla populations in the world.