Gorilla gorilla Savage and Wyman 1847
CONSERVATION AND RESEARCH ACTIVITIES
(numbered projects are WWF Projects)
Revised African Primate Action Plan:29 An updated IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group's African Primates: Status Survey and Conservation
Action Plan was published in 1996.
Rwanda: The Mountain Gorilla Project2, formerly entitled "Gorilla Habitat Preservation in Rwanda", is a collaborative project initiated in 1978 by the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), the Digit Fund, Fauna and Flora International (FFI,
previously FFPS), the People's Trust for Endangered Species and the WWF in Rwanda. It had three principal objectives:
2. To develop a well-managed tourism programme by habituating several gorilla groups, training tourist guides, and establishing a reservation and visitation system.
3. To provide an education programme aimed at school children and the local population, highlighting gorillas, but also wildlife and general conservation issues.
The Karisoke Research Centre, Rwanda, was established in 1967 by Diane Fossey. The Centre is now a part of the Mountain Gorilla Project, operating as a base for research on Mountain Gorilla social behaviour and ecology.2
In 1987 the Virunga Veterinary Centre 2was created to develop a health programme for the gorillas in the Parc National des Volcans. This programme uses experience gained from the management of gorillas in captivity to treat animals injured in t
he wild.2 The Centre follows a policy of intervention only where the gorilla's injury is life threatening or caused by man.9 The project treated three gorillas in 1990 who had been caught in snares; the injured animals recovered full
y as a result.1
Rwanda, Uganda and DRC: In February 1990, FFI, in partnership with the AWF and WWF expanded the Mountain Gorilla Project to form the International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP). This aims to support conservation work throughout the r
ange of the Eastern Lowland and Mountain Gorilla in DRC, Uganda, and Rwanda, promoting co-operation between these three countries through the provision of financial and technical assistance.3,14
The civil wars in Rwanda and former Zaire have had a great impact on the running of the Programme in those countries. WWF and other IGCP partners mounted fundraising campaigns to rebuild and restore the infrastructure and to provide salaries for park st
aff, who had not been paid in months. In Rwanda in 1996-1997, IGCP has: paid the salaries of PNV staff and provided them with equipment and clothing; paid the Rwandan army to demine the Park; and conducted seminars on the importance of gorilla conservati
on for the military. In DRC, IGCP has been working with the donor community to help mitigate the environmental impact caused by refugees to the PNVi; enforced new regulations on firewood collection; provided equipment - including bullet-proof vests - f
or anti-poaching patrols.
WWF Project ZR0008 - Conservation Programme for Virunga and Kahuzi-Biega National Parks aims to raise awareness of the value for conservation among local communties, based on rural development activities (tree planting and tree nurseries). Its act
ivities have been disrupted several times by the civil unrest in the region. However, in 1996 more than a million tree seedlings were planted, with the help of UNHCR and other donors.
Uganda:5 The Mgahinga National Park encompasses 34 km2 of the northern slopes of three of the Virunga Volcanoes. Contiguous with
Rwanda's PNV DRC's PNVi-Sud, it forms a complex known as the Virunga Conservation Area. Funds from
FFI, USAID, WWF, AWF, German Animal Protection Society, Berggoville Patenschaft and the Centre for International Migration and Development have allowed the development of a ranger service and the initiation of an ecological survey of the Park. In additio
n, a Development Through Conservation Project supported by CARE International, USAID, IFCP (Impenetrable Forest Conservation Project) and WWF (Project UG0022) began in the Mgahinga and Bwindi-Impenetrable National Park (a World Heritage Site) in 19
88. In 1995, the IGCP secured USAID funds for development of Bwindi and Mgahinga. Ecotourism centred around gorillas in Bwindi has been a great success.
Democratic Republic of Congo: A survey of Eastern Lowland gorillas in Kahuzi-Biega National Park, undertaken by the Wildlife Conservation Society, WCS, revealed unexpectedly high numbers.37 There was a research project in the Itebero-Ut
u and Masisi regions in eastern DRC on the sympatric relationships between chimpanzees and Eastern Lowland Gorillas.23 But DRC's Kahuzi-Biega National Park, now on the list of World Heritage Sites in danger, has been seriously affected by civil
unrest and the refugee crisis. Poaching and habitat destruction have increased dramatically. A number of the Park's Eastern Lowland Gorillas including several silverback males, have been killed by poachers armed with automatic weapons39.
Cameroon: Efforts are continuing to establish a tri-national protected area in the forests of southeast Cameroon which are threatened by commercial timber extraction. Densities of Western Lowland Gorilla in this area may reach 1.6 animals per km.
sq. Although Project CM0019: Integrated Plan for Regional Forest Elephant Conservation and Project CM0027: Conservation in the Boumba Bek Area are focused on elephants, information is being collected on other mammals and birds including gori
lla. In the same area, WWF-US and WCS are collaborating on forest surveys in the Lac Lobeke region (Project CM0852: Regional Forest Development in Southeast Cameroon). Project CM0043: Survey of Sources and Utilization of Bushmeat will includ
e an assessment of utilization of primates such as gorillas in the bushmeat trade.
Central African Republic (CAR): The Dzanga-Sangha Dense Forest Special Reserve and the Dzanga-Ndoki National Park are situated in the last undisturbed lowland rain forests in CAR and are home to large populations of Western Lowland Gorilla. Pr
oject CF0005: Conservation and Development in the Tropical Forests of SW CAR is concerned with developing management policies for the National Park and its buffer zone. Gorillas will be a key species in a strategy to develop ecotourism and WWF is deve
loping plans for habituating certain groups of gorillas.
Gabon: Project GA0007: Conservation Support to the Gamba Protected Area Complex is developing management plans and community development projects in south-west Gabon. This area includes a variety of habitats including large areas of lowland rainfor
est which are home to Western Lowland Gorilla. In addition, WWF-US is undertaking protected area development, land-use planning and promoting sustainable forestry and environmental awareness in north-east Gabon (Project GA0851: Conservation and Protect
ed Area Development in Northeast Gabon (Minkebe)).
Nigeria: A survey in 1987 by the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (a WWF affiliate) with the backing of the British Council, recorded an estimated 300 gorillas in the Cross River State, south-east Nigeria.7 A programme has since been de
veloped aimed at improving the status of the gorilla and its habitat in this region. Several projects are being developed including the construction of a field station and an enhanced ranger programme, an education programme and targeting local schools an
d villages. This aims to raise the awareness of the benefits of protecting the gorilla, focusing on the ecological value of forest conservation, income from ecotourism, and the potential this has for sustainable economic development in the region.10<
/sup> In response to the campaign, 4 villages instituted a self-imposed hunting ban in 1987. Under Project No NG0003: Development of the northern sector of the Cross River National Park WWF is continuing community conservation work in the area.
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