To give you an impression of what the YoG is doing beyond raising funds for the great projects featured in this blog, I will try to quickly give an overview (by no means an exhaustive list…).
The YoG is as much about raising awareness and educating the general public on gorillas and the threats they face as it is about supporting the implementation of actual conservation projects.
Through our main partners GRASP and WAZA, and the numerous NGOs, zoos and other bodies that come together under their auspices, the YoG is having a great impact globally. Educational lectures, fundraising events organized by enthusiastic individuals, events for kids at the many supportive zoos are only some of the types of feedback we are seeing.
Following the main launch in Rome in December and the UK launch in London a month later, there will soon be launch festivities in Uganda and Kenya.
There are also several fundraising cooperations and a lot of in kind support for the YoG. For example, a new book on gorillas (link) supports the YoG with 50 pence per sold copy, and the Czech Radio project The Revealed is donating some of the profits made from selling merchandise to a YoG project for Cross River Gorillas.
Wildlife Artist Daniel Taylor from Canada has produced several gorilla paintings, and in cooperation with the African Conservation Foundation, these are being sold to raise funds for the YoG. The sale of soft toy gorillas is a further fundraiser.
And then, last but not least, there is of course the blog you are looking at – potentially the best fundraising tool we have!
Numerous publications introduce the YoG or report on gorillas in the context of YoG. The in-flight magazines of Kenya Airways and others as well as travel catalogues are examples, as are the innumerable newspaper articles the YoG has been highlighted through. National Geographic Germany is planning a feature on the Virunga park situation, and there will be one large and several small features in NG Kids.
The Jane Goodall Institute’s various branches are doing their part to spread the word, and YoG Ambassador Ian Redmond is very active, giving lectures, providing images and movie clips and possibly doing a lecture tour later this year.
We also have a new regional Ambassador in Australia, Guy Williams, who will give the YoG a tangible presence in this remote corner of the world.
YoG has also been mentioned in numerous radio and TV programs, and supports several film projects aimed at helping awareness and education efforts.
Enthusiastic individuals around the globe are also doing their part, e.g. young James Brooks from Canada, Laurel Colton from California, or Fatima Chuecco from Brazil, to name but a few.
A gorilla symposium, to be held in Frankfurt, Germany in June will bring together experts, NGOs, businesses, governments and UN agencies to discuss the main threats to gorillas and ways of addressing them. More on this at a later time…
You see, we are keeping busy, and this is just a fraction of what YoG is achieving around the globe. Add the countless activities by GRASP partners and at WAZA zoos, and it becomes quite impossible to keep track of everything … but that’s a good thing.
Please help us help the gorillas by supporting the Year of the Gorilla! You can donate here or have an event of your own, be it educational or for fundraising (or both or something else..).
