Virunga Foundation


The Virunga Foundation is a non-governmental organisation working in the field of nature conservation. It is focused on protecting the wildlife in Virunga National Park. Its former name was African Conservation Fund.

International Gorilla Conservation Programme

In 2017, the Virunga Foundation started a conservation project that targets the mountain gorilla, in which the Volcanoes National Park also participated.

Controversy

The Virunga Foundation and Virunga National Park have faced criticism that their conservation efforts in the region have led to the "militarization of conservation" and further violence and dispossession faced by local Indigenous peoples. Communities, such as the Mbuti, which previously relied on the lands included in the park for food and shelter have been forced out, or risk being arrested or killed by armed park rangers.