From Voice of America

East Africa’s oil rush is spreading into parks and protected areas, prompting companies to develop new ways to explore for hydrocarbons without disturbing wildlife and natural treasures such as rare fossils.

From Uganda, where France’s Total is trying new and less intrusive methods of seismic testing in a national park, to Madagascar, where operations are under way next to a UNESCO site, the industry is working in locations where damage would trigger public outcries.

“We can’t take anything for granted. We are abutting next to a UNESCO National Park,” said Stewart Ahmed, chief executive officer of Madagascar Oil, which plans the first commercial crude oil production in the impoverished Indian Ocean island state.

“We are going to be under scrutiny and our pipelines, for example, will have to skirt around those kinds of areas,” he said on the sidelines of an Africa oil conference organized by Global Pacific & Partners.

When an area is declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO -the cultural and scientific arm of the United Nations – it  immediately comes under close observation by conservationists.

Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park, next to Madagascar Oil’s  operations in a rugged and remote region of the country’s west, is known for towering limestone pinnacles and is home to rare wildlife such as the red-fronted brown lemurs.

Read more at Voice of America