International NGOs including Global Witness and local pressure groups such as Uganda's Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE) issued a joint statement saying the Virunga National Park – a Unesco World Heritage Site - and Queen Elizabeth National Park and the whole of Lake Edward should be off-limits to the oil and gas sector.
"All existing exploration licences in this area as well as plans to issue new ones should be abandoned," says the statement.
"In
