Monday 26 November 2007

The park is a key habitat for the endangered mountain gorilla.

"Today's celebration is symbolic of the Congolese people's determination to never give up hope even during times of armed conflict that surrounds them," said Marc Languy, WWF Programme Leader in the Great Lakes Region.

"Planting ten million trees is no mean achievement when one considers the very difficult environment in which we operate in this area," he added.

WWF also announced the launch of a new forestry project jointly funded by the European Union, which will help individuals and communities plant over 2,000 hectares of trees in the area of North Kivu during the next five years.

The project is needed because strong demand for timber by the local people has led to illegal wood harvesting and charcoal production within the park which poses a major threat for the protected area.

"The illegal production of charcoal from Virunga National Park leads to large scale deforestation and directly threatens the habitat of key species such as mountain gorillas," said Alexandre Wathaut, Provincial Director of the National Park Agency in DRC.

"It also threatens the economic potential of the park," he explained.

The governor of the main town of the region, Goma and the environment minister of North Kivu planted the millionth tree during a colourful ceremony attended by traditional chiefs and representative of local communities.

The WWF tree-planting project was launched in 1987.

Virunga National Park was created in 1925 as Africa's first national park, extends over an area of 8,000km². It is located in the eastern part of the DRC, bordering Rwanda's Volcano National Park to the south.