The government is supportive but its army pillages the Park. The UNHCR and other agencies in charge of refugee camps sited within and on the edges of Virunga were contacted and the government informed of the Committee's wish to help the IUCN and world institutions by providing training and technical assistance to deal with the threats to the Park. In 1996, the World Heritage Committee recognised that major effort would be needed for at least ten years after this tragedy to rehabilitate and restore management of the Park and regain local support for its conservation. Nyiragongo above Goma, added greatly to the difficulties caused by civil war. The 2002 eruption of the stratovolcano Mt. Fishing villages on Lake Edward threaten the integrity of the Park. The north and centre of the Park were abandoned, and protective soldiery turned to poaching. The staff lacked means to patrol the 650 km-long boundary, were often unpaid, and between 19, 105 out of the Park ranger force of 500 men were killed. This led to massive uncontrollable poaching and deforestation: 9,000 hippopotamus were killed fuelwood cut for refugee camps was estimated at 600 metric tons/day, depleting and erasing the lowland forests. Threats to the site: The Park was placed on the List of World Heritage in Danger in 1994 after civil war in Rwanda and the influx of 1.5 to 2 million refugees into Kivu province. Thousands of hippopotamuses lived in its rivers, its mountains are a critical area for the survival of mountain and lowland gorillas, and birds from Siberia overwinter there. Virunga National Park contained within 790,000 hectares the greatest biological diversity of any park in Africa: from steppes, savannas and lava plains, swamps, lowland and montane forests to volcanoes and the unique giant herbs and snowfields of Rwenzori over 5,000m high. Inscription year 1979 Country Democratic Republic Of The Congo VIRUNGA NATIONAL PARK DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
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