WORLDWIDE BIODIVERSITY/FOREST CAMPAIGN NEWS
Endangered gorillas in Africa
4/15/95
OVERVIEW & SOURCE
In the following article the Earth Times details the present
situation of gorilla conservation in Africa. As I am sure most of
you are aware, civil strife threatens the creatures. This was
posted in econets theearthtime conference.
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
/* Written 2:46 AM Mar 22, 1995 by theearthtime in
igc:earthtimes */
Title: Endangered gorillas in Africa
By Vir Singh
For years, the world's last mountain gorillas foraged for nettles,
bamboo shoots, fruits and wild celery on the thickly forested
slopes of the Virungas, a chain of mostly dormant volcanoes in the
heart of Africa. By drawing well-heeled tourists mostly
Westerners, they became a hot commodity for the cash-strapped
governments of Uganda, Zaire and Rwanda. Strict policing,
education, training and other conservation measures protected the
apes from poaching, agriculture and other human activities.
All that changed dramatically last year, when the war in Rwanda
pitted them against almost half a million Rwandan refugees in a
struggle for survival.
Fearing for their lives, the refugees fled to neighboring Zaire.
Under the impact of feet, hooves, carts and motorized vehicles,
small forest trails became broad thoroughfares. Roving militias
scattered land mines at will. Random battles became commonplace in
the southern fringes of the Virungas. The gorillas, prevented from
pursuing their nomadic ways, fled northeast to an area known to
humans as Uganda.
Today, an estimated 250,000 refugees live within sight of Mt.
Mikeno and Mt. Karisimbi, the southernmost of the Virunga
volcanoes. An eight-kilometer trek takes them to the edge of the
protected area, where they gather food and firewood. Thus far, the
refugees have only penetrated the fringes of the forest. But once
they reach the base of the volcano, they will destroy some of the
last remaining habitat of the mountain gorilla.
"It's a conservation catastrophe about to happen, " said Craig
Sholley, a conservationist who spent more than 20 years persuading
governments to protect the gorillas. During the late 1970s, he and
other Westerners pleaded with Rwandan officials to halt the
conversion of forests to farmland, arguing that gorilla tourism
could generate significant revenues.
In 1979, Sholley helped launch Rwanda's Mountain Gorilla Project--
a national park policed by armed guards and reconnaissance
aircraft. The project relied heavily on the support of locals,
some of whom had been denied farmland. Through conservation
workshops and by working in hotels and in the park, they came to
view gorillas as a valuable economic resource. Conservationists
and park guides spent years "habituating" groups of gorillas--
acclimating them to the presence of humans. Eventually, the
efforts paid off. By the late 1980s, gorilla tourism became the
country's third highest income earner, after tea and coffee.
"People are attracted by how tolerant they are, how much like us
they are," Sholley said. so much so that tourists from the United
States, Europe and Japan paid almost $200 for an encounter with
the gorillas. Possibly the most expensive wildlife excursion in
the world, Sholley calls the experience "phenomenal." You're
literally out there, one on one, in their domain, there's nothing
separating you and them," he said.
Noticing Rwanda's gains, Zaire and Uganda decided to start their
own gorilla conservation programs. Aided by the African Wildlife
Foundation and the World Wildlife Fund, they formed the
International Gorilla Conservation Program. A 1971 census put the
area's mountain gorilla population at 246. By the early 1990s,
more than 300 of the world's largest surviving primates lived on
and around the slopes of the Virungas. A slightly smaller,
separate population lives approximately 150 kilometers northeast
of the volcanoes, in Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. Still
the world's most endangered primates, mountain gorillas are
considered a 'flagship,' or indicator, species of the forests--
which also house bushbuck, black fronted duiker, the Virunga
golden monkey, pines, giant heather, ferns, vines and many other
plant and animal species--like the spotted owl in the northwestern
United States. Constant monitoring and tourist visits have
discouraged would-be gorilla poachers who nevertheless lay snares
for bushbuck and black fronted duiker.
The gorillas' largest and immediate threat, however, is sheer
human pressure. The hunt for meat and firewood could turn even the
fighting--into a war zone, much like northern Zaire's Garamba
National Park. The World Wildlife Fund reported "a marked poaching
increase" in Garamba last year because of the influx of 50,000
refugees from war-ravaged Sudan. Gangs reportedly used hand
grenades and automatic weapons against anti-poaching patrols and
monitoring aircraft.
But in the southern Virungas, especially the Rwanda portion, there
are no anti-poaching patrols left. On a recent trip to Rwanda,
Sholley found the park's visitor center and his former home in
ruins, filled only with rain puddles. Everything else had been
removed to serve either the war or its casualties. Meanwhile, in
Zaire's refugee camps, the authorities are finding it increasingly
difficult to maintain order. Last month, the BBC reported growing
tensions between local officials and Rwandan refugees regarding
resource extraction. The officials reportedly were angry at the
refugees for removing firewood far in excess of their needs. Some
observers speculate that commercialization of firewood extraction
is the result of defunct militias at work in the refugee camps,
trying to establish an economic base. The World Conservation Union
(IUCN) recently released a report detailing potential threats to
the Virungas from increasingly helpless and desperate refugees.
The World Heritage Committee, a United Nations body, responded by
declaring the park a World Heritage Site.
Conservationists are somewhat relieved that most of the Virungas'
gorillas have migrated to Uganda--notwithstanding the reasons for
the migration and the imminent destruction of gorilla habitat in
the southern Virungas. They can also take heart at Uganda's moves
to promote gorilla tourism. Sholley, who leads natural history
tours in different parts of the world, plans to visit Uganda later
this year. Once there, he will examine dung deposits to assess the
health and numbers of the world's last mountain gorillas.
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