Faith Nyasuguta
Democratic Republic of Congo’s environmental groups have cautioned that gold mining in the north-east of the East African nation is threatening the habitat of the forest giraffe, or okapi.
The stripy-legged herbivore – the only surviving relative of the more familiar giraffe – has already been classified under the endangered species.
Organisations among them the Congolese Alert Network for the Environment and Human Rights note that mining operations in the Okapi Wildlife Reserve, a Unesco World Heritage Site are expanding, despite an official ban on their activities.
The national park is also home to endangered forest elephants and chimpanzees.
The organisations are calling on the Congolese government to protect the unique forest ecosystem and the communities that depend on them.
They also accuse miners of hunting threatened species for food and of trading okapi skins and elephant ivory.
