July 25th, 1997
GLAND, Switzerland -- The international community must act swiftly to
help the Democratic Republic of Congo restore conservation measures
urgently needed to save a number of protected areas harbouring some
of the world's most critically endangered wild animals, such as the
northern white rhino and the mountain gorilla, WWF-World Wide Fund For
Nature said today.
According to WWF Director-General Claude Martin, the civil war in the
former Zaire played havoc in several of Africa's most venerable
protected areas, including Garamba, Virunga and Kahuzi-Biega National
Parks and the Okapi Faunal Reserve, all of which are listed by UNESCO
as World Heritage Sites.
"WWF is committed to helping the Democratic Republic of Congo rebuild
and maintain the shattered infrastructure of its protected area network,"
he said. "Major interventions are needed immediately or else the world
will lose species that exist only in this war-torn country. WWF will
continue to collaborate closely with aid agencies as humanitarian needs
must be of utmost concern and integral to any action taken".
The conflict not only reduced drastically the human and material
resources needed for the conservation of these areas, but also
increased dramatically the threat posed by poaching to the survival of
the world's most endangered large mammal, the northern white rhino,
and to one of the two relatively small mountain gorilla populations still
remaining.
"We are absolutely dismayed by the current situation," said Elizabeth
Kemf, Species Information Officer at WWF International. "Recent aerial
and ground surveys carried out in Garamba by WWF scientists Kes and
Fraser Smith showed that only 24 northern white rhinos may survive,
down from an estimate of 27 to 31 in 1996. There are practically no
resources in place with which to fight back at the present; about 90
percent of the park's equipment was either looted or destroyed during
the civil war." The park is home to all of the world's northern white
rhinos remaining in the wild.
While one rhino death has been confirmed so far, only 18 different rhinos
were seen by Kes and Fraser Smith during their aerial survey in June
1997. That same survey also revealed the presence of more than 49
recently occupied poaching camps along the Garamba river which are
believed to have been set up by Sudanese refugees. In addition, 29
elephants, 24 buffalos and over 16 hippos were found dead, all freshly
killed.
In January 1997, Garamba was occupied by a strike force loyal to
deposed president Mobutu Sese Seko. During and after the takeover of
the park headquarters by troops of the Alliance of Democratic Forces for
the Liberation of the Congo (ADFL) in mid February, most of the park's
functional equipment was looted or destroyed, including vehicles, radios,
fuel and patrol equipment. As a consequence of these losses, park staff
cannot conduct now more than 15 percent of the anti-poaching activities
they carried out in Garamba before the war.
A similarly grim situation also exists in Africa's oldest National Park, the
Parc National des Virunga, on Congo's border with Rwanda and Uganda,
where militia groups are still active and heavy poaching continues to
decimate wildlife. In the last two years, 44 park guards have died while
in service at Virunga as well as 12 of the highly endangered mountain
gorillas.
The Rwandan refugee crisis put severe pressure on the park.
According to a satellite photo study commissioned by the European
Union and UNHCR, between July 1994 and September 1996 more than
500 sq km (more than a third) of the park was found to be affected by
either wood collecting or poaching activities. Of these, 78 sq. km. of
forests were severely degraded and 18 sq. km. were completely
denuded of vegetation. Also, the local hippopotamus population has
been almost wiped out, plumetting from over 30,000 in 1986 to about
3,000 in 1996.
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For more information, please contact Javier Arreaza, WWF International,
Gland, Switzerland, tel. +41 22 364 9550, fax: +41 22 364 8307, e-mail:
jarreaza@wwfnet.org