* Royal Dutch Shell first among oil majors to halt activity
* South Africa, Australia have protection in domestic law
* Virunga in Democratic Republic of Congo among sites atrisk
By Barbara Lewis
LONDON, Sept 5 (Reuters) - The world's biggest miningcompanies called on Monday for action to stop any firms,including the oil and gas industry, extracting resources fromnatural sites protected by the United Nations.
In 2003, the International Council on Mining and Metals(ICMM), which groups 23 firms including BHP Billiton , Rio , Anglo American andGlencore, agreed to halt mining in World Heritage Sitesas part of a remit to make mining more sustainable.
"Yet 13 years later, other companies and industries arestill operating in these precious sites," ICMM CEO Tom Butlertold the Congress of the International Union for theConservation of Nature (IUCN) in Hawaii.
"The ecosystems that underpin our economies, well-being andsurvival are collapsing," he wrote in a blog. "The message isclear: we need urgent and collaborative action."
Royal Dutch Shell was the only oil and gas firm tojoin the ICMM in 2003 in making heritage sites "a no go area"and on Monday it reaffirmed its pledge. French oil firm Total and Tullow Oil have also made a commitment.
But other big oil companies have not followed suit and theICMM, whose members are responsible for about a third of globalmetal production, have also failed to recruit the rest of theirindustry to pledge to respect U.N. protected sites.
UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific andCultural Organization) said 59 out of 203 protected sites hadbeen formally reported to the World Heritage Committee as facinga threat from extractive industries.
Apart from government bans, UNESCO said private sectoraction could be effective. For instance, funding bodies couldwithhold cash for development in sensitive areas.
Among governments, Australia and South Africa out of the 192countries that ratified the World Heritage convention haveenshrined this protection in domestic legislation.
The International Association of Oil and Gas Producers,which collectively produce more than a third of the world's oiland gas, said in a statement, "our members' operations arecarried out complying with the relevant legislation".
It said new technology could minimise the drillingfootprint, for instance by horizontal drilling.
One threatened area is Virunga National Park, a UNESCO WorldHeritage Site in Democratic Republic of Congo, which is ahabitat of exceptional biodiversity and home to endangeredgorillas, elephants and other species.
British oil company Soco International said inNovember it no longer held the exploration licence for a block,of which about half lies within Virunga, after ceasingoperations following human rights protests and a campaign byconservation group WWF.
Conservationists say Virunga is still vulnerable. Apart fromoil exploration rights, its mineral wealth includes gold,diamonds, tantalum, used in mobile phones, and tin, WWF said. (additional reporting by Susan Taylor in Toronto; editing byDavid Clarke)
