Abstract:
Armed groups are spread across the two Kivus, concentrated in strategic areas such as the
Semuliki Valley, the Ruzizi Plain or around the Virunga National Park. Smaller ones appear to
be clustered in areas with high population density and fierce competition between armed
groups. To the west, heading into the sparsely populated lowlands, groups seem to roam further
afield, creating larger areas of influence. The conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
started in 1996 and a lot of inhabitants have never experienced peace. The eastern part of the
Democratic Republic of the Congo is the most affected region of the country, including the
Virunga National Park which is part of the second largest rainforest in the world. The park
struggles against local militias, rebel groups, poachers, hunters, and illegal fishing and cutting
trees. This process proceeds by the identification of legal issues that environmental law sector
is facing. Specifically. To assess challenges affecting laws regulating environment in armed
conflicts. To propose possible measures to adopt for environment in armed conflicts. The right
to a healthy and clean environment simply means that people must live in an environment
conducive to the well-being of living and non-living things (Du Plessis, 2011). Therefore, it is
the responsibility of everyone to take care of the environment and prevent it from being polluted,
degraded and destroyed (May, 2005). The state has constitutional role to intervene in whatever
form in order to protect the environment even to the extent of implementing and enforcing
policies and laws on environmental rights and laws (Cusack M E 1993). By so doing, the state
can also legislate protective mechanisms that will take care of environmental rights of the
present and future generations and insists that present generations should act responsibly by
not depleting the natural resources or harm the environment by engaging in unsafe and
destructive activities.
