THE PROTECTION OF ENVIRONMENT DURING ARMED ACTIVITIES AND ARMED CONFLICT: THE CASE STUDY OF VIRUNGA NATIONAL PARK”

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.