Gorilla Protection

Category: Rangers | Date: Mar 09 2009 | By: paula

Dear friends,

As part of our contribution to the Year of the Gorilla, we are helping GRASP (the Great Ape Survival Project) to raise funds for a number of field based gorilla projects in Africa.

First off is the Cross River gorilla, Gorilla gorilla diehli, there are fewer than 300 of these gentle animals left in the world. They occur in Nigeria and Cameroon, in about 11 distinct forest sites across a 12,000km² landscape.  Seven of these sites fall within the boundaries of Parks, Wildlife Sanctuaries or Forest Reserves, affording them some level of protection.

Cross River National Park - Okwangwo Division (950 km²)

Afi River Forest Reserve: 383 km²
Afi River Mountain Sanctuary with about 20–40 individuals

Takamanda National Park: 676 km²

Mone Forest Reserve: 538 km²

Our goal is to provide support for the 100 or so gorillas in the remaining four sites outside of the protected areas through community-based conservation initiatives.

Support Gorilla Guardians

This includes the creation of and support to Nigeria’s first community managed Wildlife Sanctuary in the Mbe Mountains. This will involve the establishment of a gorilla guardian monitoring network with 8 local communities in the Mowambi and Mbulu-Mone forest areas.

In the most vulnerable Cross River gorilla sites in Cameroon we will also support a combined conservation and rural development approach being promoted in the Bechati-Fossimondi area.

The total Funding needed: €98,000 (US $ 123,000)

Salary support for eco-guards (Mbe Mountains) - €18,000 (US 20,000)

Training for eco-guards (Mbe Mountains) - €10,000 (US$ 12,500)

Develop alternative livelihoods for hunters (Mbe Mountains) - €10,000 (US$ 12,500)

Gorilla Guardian training (Mowambi & Mbulu-Mone) - €10,000 (US$ 12,500)

Gorilla guardian monitoring support (Mowambi & Mbulu-Mone) - €30,000 (US$ 37,700)

Elaborating co-management strategies (Bechati-Fossimondi) - €20,000 (US $25,000)

To support this projuect, just click on cross river gorilla on the donation widget to the right. Click here for more information on this extraordinary ape.

The implementing partners include: Wildlife Conservation Society, the Conservation Association of the Mbe Mountains (CAMM), Development in Nigeria (DIN), the Cross River State Forestry Commission, the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife, Environment & Rural Development Foundation (ERUDEF) and 8 village-based gorilla guardians.

Tags: Cameroon, cross river Gorilla, gorilla, lowland gorilla, Nigeria, WCS

3 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Nov 30 2008 | By: paula

It’s not all bad news for gorillas despite the crisis in the DR Congo, there is good news in Nigeria and Cameroon for the worlds most endangered gorilla species.  The Cross River gorilla, the rarest of the four gorilla subspecies has a new protected area to protect it. The species is found only in Nigeria and Cameroon is threatened by habitat destruction and fragmentation due to farming, roads and burning, as well as hunting for bushmeat.

The new park called Takamanda National Park is a transboundary park that protects the 115 cross river gorillas (a third of the worlds population) and other endangered animals like chimapnzees, drills and forest elephants to wonder freely in both countries.  It’s creation represents many years of work led by WCS and the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife in Cameroon and local communities.

This project is funded by the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife and the German Development Bank (Kreditanstalt fűr Wiederaufbau Bankengruppe) as part of a 5-year funding program to protect key conservation areas in collaboration with local communities in southwest Cameroon. The initiative is also supported by the World Wildlife Fund, the German Development Service (DED) and the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ).

The cross river gorilla is one of four species of gorillas, the other subspecies include: western lowland gorillas, eastern lowland or “Grauer’s” gorillas, restricted to eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, and mountain gorillas, made famous by Dian Fossey and George Schaller. Earlier this year, WCS scientists discovered more than 125,000 western lowland gorillas in the northern Republic of Congo. All gorilla species  are classified as “critically endangered” or “endangered” by the IUCN Red List.

Read more about this in blogs here and here and here

Tags: conservation, cross river Gorilla, D R Congo, Mountain Gorillas, Republic of Congo, WCS

4 responses so far