New Congo In Great Need Of Help To Save Endangered Species
7/25/97
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Headline: New Congo In Great Need Of Help To Save Endangered Species
Source: 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
Date: 7/25/97
Copyright 1997, The World Wide Fund For Nature [WWF News Releases]
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.
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