CONGO, RWANDA, UGANDA PROTECT GORILLAS

JOINT EFFORT TO SAVE ENDANGERED GORILLAS

For the first time, Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo have launched a joint effort to protect the mountain gorillas that roam between the three nations. Mountain gorillas are considered one of the world's most endangered species.

The volcanic Virunga mountains that straddle Rwanda, Uganda and Congo are home to the gorillas. An estimated 380 mountain gorillas – more than half of the world's population – live in the Virunga national park and surrounding region. More than 300 also live in southwest Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable Forest reserve, which is included in the conservation effort. Wars, poaching and spreading human settlements have become grave threats to these great apes.

Gorilla numbers across the region fell to a low of 370 in the 1980s. But renewed conservation efforts, along with the gorillas' growing value as tourist attractions (visitors pay as much as $500 a day for tracking permits), have seen numbers recover. Bwindi has seen a 12 percent population growth over the last decade.

The tri-country, 10-year conservation project will focus on greater security and ways of discouraging local communities from destroying the region's forests. As part of the project, the operations of each country's national parks rangers will become integrated to safeguard the gorillas. It will also give communities a share of the money made from gorilla-trekking permits. The first four years of the project are being funded by the Dutch government at a cost of US$6 million.

As well as the mountain gorilla, there are 26 other primate species and 40 different ungulates living in the parks. Scientists estimate that 50 per cent of all bird species identified on mainland Africa are found in this region, as well as 30 per cent of mammals, 19 per cent of amphibians and 14 per cent of reptiles.

Shoutout to the governments of Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo for co-operating on this very important project. Shoutout to the Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN), the Office Rwandais du Tourisme et des Parcs Nationaux (ORTPN), the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), the International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP), the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), and Fauna & Flora International (FFI), the agencies who put it all together. Shoutout to the park rangers who protect the gorillas every day.

Sources, resources, discourses:

1. Telegraph.co.uk – article
2. WWF – article
3. Planet Ark – article
4. BBC News - article

RWANDA SAVES HISTORIC FOREST

THE RWANDA NATIONAL CONSERVATION PARK:
AFRICA’S MOST AMBITIOUS RESTORATION PROJECT EVER.

Gishwati Forest in northwest Rwanda has seen better days. Deforestation, soil erosion, resource exploitation and human conflict are some of the ravages the forest has endured for the past quarter century. But today the forest has a new lease on life, following the creation of the Rwanda National Conservation Park.

The park, a joint venture between the Rwandan government, Great Ape Trust of Iowa, and Earthpark, is one of Africa's most ambitious forest restoration projects ever. The park plans to restore the forest’s ecosystem by improving water quality and reducing soil erosion. The natural biodiversity of the area will be restored with special emphasis on chimpanzees as a keystone species. Humans, too, will have a role in the new venture – local Rwandans will generate income through ecotourism, investment opportunity, and local employment.

The future wasn’t always so bright for the beleaguered forest. The Gishwati was deforested in the 1980s by agricultural development, and in the 1990s during the resettlement of people following the civil war and genocide. Human encroachment, deforestation, grazing, and small-scale farming resulted in extensive soil erosion, flooding, landslides, and reduced water quality – as well as the isolation of a small population of chimpanzees. The Gishwati, the second-largest indigenous forest in Rwanda, once extended 100,000 hectares, but by the late 1980s it was reduced to one-fourth its original size. Further resettlement by returning refugees reduced the forest to only 600 hectares. As a result, Rwanda has been losing some 500 tons of soil annually per hectare.

Happily, this trend is being reversed. Reforestation and agroforestry methods, using techniques like radical terracing, progressive terracing, and live mulching are being implemented to regenerate lost forest cover on the steep mountainous slopes. At this rate, the Gishwati Forest has a good chance of regenerating within the next five to ten years.

A big shoutout to the government of Rwanda, Great Ape Trust, Earthpark, and everyone else who is working hard to return the Gishwati to it’s natural splendor.

Sources:

http://www.greatapetrust.org/save/rwanda.php

http://allafrica.com/stories/200801150508.html

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080115085344.htm