This week, the Congolese staff of The Gorilla Organization in Goma were delighted to host a visit by the the Ambassador for the United Nations ‘Year of the Gorilla’ 2009, Ian Redmond OBE.

The Ambassador (and Gorilla Organization trustee) encouraged the staff in their hard work trying to safeguard the gorillas in both the Kahuzi Biega National Park and the Virunga National Park.
The Gorilla Organization has been working in DR Congo since 1996, working to protect the gorillas with a community-based approach
This includes the fuel-efficient stoves that I have been reporting on here for the Year of the Gorilla.”, integrating local people into conservation. This approach has reduced the pressure on resources around the gorilla habitat and provided alternative incomes and increased well-being for the local communities.

Ian Redmond is currently doing a tour of the ten gorilla-habitat countries in Africa to mark the Year of the Gorilla, and is being filmed for a documentary. He praised the Congolese staff at the Gorilla Organization Resource Centre in Goma for their courage and sacrifices in protecting nature. He told the GO Programme Manager, Henry Chiruza, that the fight must continue to save the gorillas with the total integration of local people to the conservation cause.

Ian also gave me an exclusive interview on my regular radio programme ‘Cosmos: Our World’. Ian mourned the loss of part of the Virunga National Park after the recent Kanyangara’s late. He also called upon rebel forces to leave the park for good.