Oil companies want to have their cake and eat it in Virunga

Africa's oldest National Park is under threat and big time. Virunga National Park is a place of incredible natural beauty and of great importance to the wildlife in Africa. The park has an exceptional diversity of mammal, birds and reptiles, more than in any other area on the African continent. The area is rich in mountain gorillas, which are an endangered species, increasingly being pushed out of forests to make way for agriculture, logging and now, from the oil companies. A UK based oil company called SOCO was recently carrying out oil exploitation operations within the borders of the National Park. These activities compromise the mountain gorillas as a species and all other wildlife within this World Heritage Site.

The destruction of this World Heritage Site

It gets its name from the Virunga Mountains in the South and stretches to the Rwenzori Mountains to the North of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. It was made a World Heritage Site in 1979 by UNESCO. The face of this park could dramatically change in recent times due to the imminent threat oil companies pose to the ecosystem and wildlife of Virunga National Park.

Mountain gorillas, found in Virunga National Park, are now listed as one of the most
critically endangered species in the World

The documentary "Virunga" and the people on the front line

Orlando von Einsiedel travelled in Virunga back in 2012 to document to positive progress made by the park authorities in their conservation efforts and successful tourism initiatives in the area. In the same year a rebellion broke out in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Political instability in this area has, in the past, encouraged land invasions and poaching. Little did he know that the real imminent threat would come from a multi national corporation called SOCO International.

The company had been offering bribes to the park rangers to ease their way into exploiting the terrain at Virunga National Park. The film also exposes the vulnerable position of the park rangers, who are sent harassing and intimidating emails from SOCO International.

The future for Virunga

Although SOCO has committed to stop it's explorations within Virunga National Park, it's personnel and offices remain present in the National Park. This is extremely worrying for the park rangers, as SOCO has only committed to stop it's explorations for the time being, It's remaining presence in the area could indicate future intentions for exploitation of the land.

Current appeal from UNESCO and WWF

The World Wide Fund (WWF), continue to monitor the situation in the park and have desperately appealed to the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo to cancel all oil exploitation permits. UNESCO has also requested the government to put a stop to oil exploitation permits. These organisations require the support of the public to protect Virunga National Park and for it to be secure for the future.

The actions of SOCO International can at best be described as careless towards the environment and ruthless towards the people and communities who live and dedicate their lives to the maintenance and protection of this World Heritage Site.

The Academy Award nominated documentary about Virunga can now be seen on Netflix. Since the release of the film donations to the park have tripled compared to the previous year. Sustainable tourism is also on the rise and positively impacting the area, because more money can be put into conservation efforts.

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Hazards of batteries lying in landfills

Batteries accumulate and store energy by chemical processes. There is a difference between primary and secondary batteries, also called batteries or accumulators, their lifeline can have various cycles of charge and discharge. Batteries provide energy but the remains of batteries can be very harmful to the environment.

The battery is the element that contains different metals in its composition, like mercury in flat batteries, or cadmium in rechargeable batteries. There are other worrying toxic metals such as magnesium, nickel and zinc. Therefore, although not all batteries have the same level of toxicity, they all have a high concentration in metals that should be considered a dangerous residue.
Batteries facilitate the use of various gadgets that we use in our daily lives, but if we throw them away with ordinary rubbish, they end up in landfills or incinerating plants.

Contamination of Batteries

 In landfills, with time, the exterior shell of the battery is eroded and the inside is tipped and transferred into subterranean waters and the earth, which causes them to enter the nature food chain, from which human beings nourish.
At incinerating plants, resulting fumes will give way to volatile toxic elements, contaminating the air.

How do batteries contaminate?

Batteries that are tossed into landfills or for that matter thrown onto any terrain that is not specialised in the disposal of this type of material, cause a great impact the nature and fauna of that area.
Batteries take a long period of time to disintegrate and therefore contaminate slowly, during a long period of time in any given ecosystem. Here are several ways in which batteries contaminate the ecosystem:

• The toxic substances that batteries emit whilst they are decomposing contaminate the air, causing harmful effects to the health of living beings.
• On the other hand, batteries also contaminate the ground. This provokes changes to the ecosystems. Fertile ground diminishes in these areas, leading to deaths of animals and living beings in those areas because of the diminished food resources.
• Waste from batteries also contaminate the water, superficial and subterranean waters, causing widespread problems and annihilation  of agriculture and livestock, and especially to the marine ecosystems. 

Picking and selecting batteries

Picking used batteries and placing them in specific containers, and adequate treatment are the most logical and respectful solution for environment. 

Once they have been collected from these specific containers for batteries only, they are transported to recycling plant where the dangerous metal parts are segregated from the rest of materials. Unfortunately, very few plants exist dedicated to the recycling of batteries. The process is somewhat costly, and the costly environmental repercussions are often ignored. 

What you can do from home 

We can also collaborate when it comes to preventing the damages of batteries. We can opt for rechargeable batteries (see image below) which can be used up to 500 times before they need to be disposed of. Because they can be reused, they are even more convenient that conventional batteries.

 Zinc-carbon batteries are also an alternative, but the best thing is to buy electrical items that can be connected and plugged in to an electrical current.

These rechargeable batteries can be reused up to 500 times

Getting rid of batteries 

When it comes to getting rid of batteries the best option is to deposit the batteries in the places allocated for their collection and safe disposal. Some major supermarkets and stores in the UK (Argos, Sainsbury's, Homebase, B&Q and Tescos) with rubbish tips usually have a separate container for batteries to be recycled.

Statistics

However it is notable that there aren't enough options in the UK to recycle batteries when they are so commonly used to power household electrical goods. 

In 2012 in the UK, only a 32% of batteries were recycled. Compare this to Switzerland, where in the same year 73% of batteries were recycled, and the results are dire.


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