Oil exploitation at Virunga Park as a threat to the environment and to endangered animal species
| Autor | Kiwonghi Bizawu - Magno Federici Gomes |
| Cargo | Doctor and Master of International Law at Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais (PUC Minas). Professor at the Master's Program in Environmental Law and Sustainable Development at Escola Superior Dom Helder Câmara. Pro-Dean for the Law Post-Graduation Program. Email: sebak_07@hotmail.com - Post-doctor of Public Law and Education at... |
| Páginas | 11-29 |
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OIL EXPLOITATION AT VIRUNGA PARK AS
A THREAT TO THE ENVIRONMENT AND TO
ENDANGERED ANIMAL SPECIES
Kiwonghi Bizawu
Doctor and Master of International Law at Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais (PUC Minas).
Professor at the Master’s Program in Environmental Law and Sustainable
Development at Escola Superior Dom Helder Câmara.
Pro-Dean for the Law Post-Graduation Program.
Email: sebak_07@hotmail.com
http://dx.doi.org/10.18623/rvd.v13i27.897
Magno Federici Gomes
Post-doctor of Public Law and Education at the New University of Lisbon, Portugal.
Post-doctor of Civil Law and Civil Procedure, Doctor of Law and Master
of Procedural Law and at Universidad de Deusto, Spain.
Professor at the Master’s Program in Environmental Law
and Sustainable Development at Escola Superior Dom Helder Câmara.
Email: magnofederici1@yahoo.com.br
ABSTRACT
This article aims at addressing the impasse created by the government of the
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)1 when it granted to Soco, an English
multinational company, the permit to exploit oil and start drilling inside the
Virunga National Park in the province of North Kivu, Ituri area, which is
protected by UNESCO as a Heritage of Humanity and recognized worldwide
as the sanctuary of the mountain gorillas, okapis and several other endangered
animals or animal species. The article is inspired in the international mobilization
promoted by Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) such as the Human
Rights Watch (HRW), Global Witness, World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF)
and by other national and international human and animal rights movements,
as well as by Ituri’s civil society. What is the future of Virunga Park in face
of the economic development from oil exploitation to benet poor riparian
populations praised by the Central Government and the sustainable development
based on the preservation and conservation of the Park recommended by the
non-governmental organizations and the movements listed above? Considering
the arguments of the Government in favor of economic development to ght
the poverty and misery of the riparian populations, in one hand, and the UN’s
1 The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), former Zaire and also known as Congo-Kinshasa due
to its capital city, Kinshasa, to differentiate it from the Republic of Congo, whose capital city is Braz-
zaville, is a country in central Africa, the second largest country in Africa for its extension after Inde-
pendence from South Sudan in 2011. It borders the Central African Republic to the north, Sudan to
the south, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania to the east, Zambia and Angola to the south, the
Atlantic Ocean, the enclave of Cabinda and Congo-Brazzaville to the west. RDC’s population is about
70 million inhabitants. Regarding biodiversity, RDC is seen as the second in the world after Brazil.
Refer to https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rep%C3%BAblica_Democr%C3%A1tica_do_Congo Accessed
on jun. 22, 2015.
Veredas do Direito, Belo Horizonte, v.13 n.27 p.11-29 Setembro/Dezembro de 2016
OIL EXPLOITATION AT VIRUNGA PARK AS A THREAT TO THE ENVIRONMENT AND TO ENDANGERED ANIMAL...
12 Veredas do Direito, Belo Horizonte, v.13 n.27 p.11-29 Setembro/Dezembro de 2016
opposite positioning through UNESCO, NGOs and the civil society, on the
other hand, the dialectic method is going to be used by means of a descriptive
research founded on a bibliographic survey.
Keywords: Right of animals. Environment; Virunga Park; Heritage of
Humanity; UNESCO.
EXPLORAÇÃO PETROLÍFERA DO PARQUE DE VIRUNGA COMO
AMEAÇA AO MEIO AMBIENTE E ÀS ESPÉCIES ANIMAIS EM EXTINÇÃO
RESUMO
O presente artigo pretende abordar o impasse criado pelo Governo da
República Democrática do Congo (RDC)2 ao conceder à multinacional Soco,
uma empresa inglesa, a licença para explorar petróleo e iniciar as perfurações
no Parque Nacional de Virunga, na província do Kivu-Norte, região de
Ituri, considerado Patrimônio da Humanidade e tombado pela UNESCO,
reconhecido mundialmente como santuário dos gorilas da montanha, dos
okapis (ocapis) e de vários outros animais ou espécies de animais em extinção.
O artigo se inspira da mobilização internacional promovida por Organizações
Não Governamentais (ONGs) tais como Human Rights Watch (HRW), Global
Witness, World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) e por outros movimentos de
direitos humanos e de direitos dos animais tanto nacionais quanto internacionais,
bem como pela sociedade civil de Ituri. Qual é o futuro do Parque de Virunga
em face do desenvolvimento econômico oriundo da exploração petrolífera
com o intuito de beneciar as populações ribeirinhas pobres preconizada pelo
Governo Central e do desenvolvimento sustentável assentado na preservação e
conservação do Parque recomendado pelas organizações não governamentais
e pelos movimentos supramencionados? Considerando a argumentação do
Governo em favor do desenvolvimento econômico para combater a pobreza e
a miséria das populações ribeirinhas, de um lado, e o posicionamento oposto
da ONU através da UNESCO, ONGs e sociedade civil, de outro, utilizar-se-á
o método dialético mediante pesquisa descritiva assentada no levantamento
bibliográco.
Palavras-chave: Direito dos animais; Meio Ambiente; Parque de Virunga;
Patrimônio da Humanidade; UNESCO.
2 The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), former Zaire and also known as Congo-Kinshasa due
to its capital city, Kinshasa, to differentiate it from the Republic of Congo, whose capital city is Braz-
zaville, is a country in central Africa, the second largest country in Africa for its extension after In-
dependence from South Sudan in 2011. It borders the Central African Republic and South Sudan to
the north, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania to the east, Zambia and Angola to the south, the
Atlantic Ocean, the enclave of Cabinda and Congo-Brazzaville to the west. RDC’s population is about
70 million inhabitants. Regarding biodiversity, RDC is seen as the second in the world after Brazil.
Refer to WIKIPEDIA, 2015.
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