“You, Europeans. You have eaten all your animals and now you ask us to turn our backs on our money the country desperately needs, the people desperately need, to protect animals,” expressed Joseph Pili Pili, a senior official from the Congolese Ministry of Hydrocarbons. To me, he seems like another party hack, one willing to compromise something truly beautiful in life—the humble and endangered mountain gorillas of Virunga National Park. This is in exchange for something so lucrative that has yet to make any opportunity for the Congolese people—more natural resources.

According to the United Nation Environmental Programme, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has $24 trillion of untapped mineral wealth in the ground. It seems to be the DRC’s curse. Paired with that is also the fact that the country’s gross domestic product per capita ranks the lowest in the world, according to the Central Intelligence Agency World Factbook. This presents a dismal paradox—a country with the greatest mineral wealth is, in fact, the country with the poorest people. So when I heard about how SOCO International, a Britain-based oil and gas corporation, was examining Virunga National Park for oil wealth in eastern DRC and that the country is considering redrawing its borders for the corporation to excavate oil, I was certainly less than thrilled. How can more money that I only fear will fall into state coffers or the hands of greedy militias help an impoverished people develop?

The park is home to a quarter of the world’s population of the endangered mountain gorillas and is among one of the most ecologically diverse habitats in the world. Established in 1925, it was declared by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization as a World Heritage Site in 1979. However, it has been afflicted by the violence in Eastern DRC since the late 1990s. As Congolese government officials consider redrawing the lines for the park, the threat to this endangered species could become even more dire as the oil exploration areas constitute 40 percent of the park. Even though SOCO claims that, as of last year, they were done exploring in the the region, they still present a risk to the park.  If the Congolese government chooses to declassify these areas of the park, it may be easier for SOCO to sell them. Additionally, it presents fear for many park rangers, who believe that they will no longer be able to protect the endangered species.

Now before you scratch your head and come up with an image of what one of these park rangers looks like, I urge you to take a step back. These aren’t your normal run-of-the-mill park rangers. They are the real deal. Armed with AK-47s, they serve as conservationists and defenders of the park—protecting any of the animals from becoming victims of the poachers. 

Joanna Natasegara, a spokesperson for Virunga National Park, said that over 140 park rangers have been killed by poachers in the line of duty in the last decade, and today the park only has 680 park rangers to protect it. Virunga Park is larger than the state of Israel.

Since 1996, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a group partially responsible for the genocide in neighboring Rwanda—have been living in the park. A National Geographic photographer, Brent Stirton, expressed that the FDLR “does everything from robbing trucks that pass through to crimes against local citizens to animal poaching, to whatever they can do to make money, regardless of the rule of law.”

If militias live regardless of the rules of law, how can we expect them to keep their hands off of oil wealth in Virunga? It is not concealed that SOCO international would have no qualms about negotiating unethically either. Rodrigue Katembo, a park ranger who acted as an undercover agent, was bribed to work against the park. He captured excellent undercover footage and was subsequently jailed for 17 days—only to be beaten and tortured. Following his arrest, he received threats that if he were to ever oppose the exploitation of oil wealth in Virunga again, he would be killed. SOCO denies any implications of impropriety. 

If the threat against the mountain gorillas isn’t enough, it is certainly important to note that the oil exploitation could risk the lives of some 30,000 who rely on the lake to survive. The potential for an oil leak is possible, and it could very well harm these local fisherman. Additionally, the tourism industry could be stunted by oil excavation.

All the while, the Congolese government supports the decision of excavation, insisting that it would further improve the economy. However, the park’s Chief Warden, Emmanuel de Merode, believes “If Virunga National Park were to be declassified as a world heritage site, it would represent a huge loss to the future potential for economic development.” Not only would this be seen in the destruction of wildlife, but also in the economic future of the park itself.

If we have learned anything about the exploitation of mineral wealth in Congo, then we certainly should know better than to allow this corporation or any other to set up camp on a UNESCO World Heritage site. The Democratic Republic of Congo is a country overflowing with mineral wealth. And once that was discovered, Congo was swallowed by the Western world. A country full of such life shouldn’t be blotted out by inhumanity for resources to fuel our world fought over by African actors and the Western World alike. If one destroys Virunga, one destroys the Congolese hope.