A new € 53-million grant has been signed between the EU, the DRC government and the Virunga Foundation, on Monday 28 November 2016

This grant aims at providing the Virunga National Park with the necessary resources for ensuring its proper management and development, the conservation of its exceptional biodiversity and the valuation of its ecosystem services for a duration of 5 years.

Out of its 53 million total cost, 15.4 million will be funded by the EU, in the context of the 11th EDF National Indicative Programme. The remainder is co-funded by other donors, as well as by resources generated by the Park itself, namely ecotourism and hydroelectricity.

It is the first one of a three-component support programme which the EU is allocating to the Virunga Foundation. Other contracts to be signed soon are a support to the construction of a second hydroelectric power plant near Lubero, off the western side of the park (€ 20 Mio, of which 12 M will be funded by the EU), and a development project for sustainable agriculture in the buffer zone of the Park (19.4 Mio, all EU funded).  

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EU's Head of Cooperation in DRC, DRC Representative of the EDF NAO and the Director of the Virunga National Park.

The Virunga Foundation is a private, non-profit entity that is associated to the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation through a joint management agreement.

To know more about Virunga: https://virunga.org/