Kabila Pledges to Save Environment in The Democratic Republic of Congo
2/17/98
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Title: Kabila Pledges to Save Environment in The Democratic Republic of Congo
Source: WWF Press Release
Status: Distribute freely with proper credit given to source
Date: 2/17/98
President Kabila Pledges to Save Environment in The Democratic Republic of
Congo
GLAND- The commitment by President Laurent Desire Kabila to establishing a
genuine conservation agenda for the Democratic Republic of Congo is a great
step forward for restoring the economic and environmental viability of one of
Africa's most biologically rich nations, WWF-World Wide Fund For
Nature said today.
Mr. Kabila, who held a meeting yesterday with a WWF delegation following last
week's visit to Kinshasa by WWF Director General Dr. Claude Martin, recognized
the difficult situation for conservation as a consequence of Congo's recent
civil war and committed himself personally to alleviating the structural and
circumstantial problems that are ravaging the country's protected areas and
bringing extremely endangered species like the northern white rhino ever closer
to extinction.
Most of Congo's national parks are currently in a state of acute crisis. Among
them, Garamba National Park, in the northeast of the country (where the world's
last wild population of northern white rhinos is found), is in extreme
difficulty due to the pressures brought by increased poaching and a general
lack of resources to ensure adequate patrolling and other conservation
measures.
Dr. Kes Hillman-Smith, WWF Project Executant at Garamba, discussed the current
state of the park with President Kabila and Mr. Edi Angulu-Mabengi, Minister of
Environment and Tourism. She stressed the urgent need to equip park rangers,
continue with training activities, control the currently free movement of fire
weapons in the region and obtain the cooperation of local leaders to protect
the park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. "The President was very supportive and
said he was keen to adopt a clearly defined environmental agenda to ensure the
nation's unique natural wealth survives in the long term," she said. In terms
of variety of animal and plant species, the Democratic Republic of Congo is
probably the richest country in Africa. The country contains other unique
species of plants and animals, like the okapi, the pigmy chimpanzee, and the
eastern lowland gorilla, that are found nowhere else. After Brazil, the D.R.
Congo is the country with the largest surface of tropical forests in the world,
and it contains more than half of Africa's tropical forests.
According to WWF, the likely contribution of this natural wealth to the
reconstruction of Congo is unmeasurable, but this biological diversity needs to
be managed in a sustainable way. The conservation of the country's protected
areas is essential to the recovery of the local tourist industry, an important
generator of revenue and a potential creator of many jobs for the country's
people, who could also benefit from adequate management of the forest resources
and unique protected areas.
WWF is asking the international conservation community to support whenever
possible conservation initiatives in the Democratic Republic of Congo, so that
the exceptional natural riches of Congo can be preserved for future
generations, contribute to its economic and social development, and be of real
benefit to its people.
For more information,
please contact Javier Arreaza at
tel. +41 22 364 9550,
e-mail: jarreaza@wwfnet.org