tagged w/ Gorilla Protection
-
UNEP/GRID-Arendal - Publications - Last Stand of the Gorilla
Gorillas, the largest of the great apes, are under renewed threat across the Congo Basin from Nigeria to the Albertine Rift: poaching for bushmeat, loss of habitat due to agricultural expansion, degradation of habitat from logging, mining and charcoal production are amongst these threats, in addition to natural epidemics such as ebola and the new risk of diseases passed from humans to gorillas.
Alarmingly, parts of the region are experiencing intensifed exploitation and logging of its forest, in some cases even within protected areas. In the DRC, many of these activities are controlled by militias illegally extracting natural resources such as gold, tin and coltan as well as producing charcoal for local communities, urban areas, camps for people displaced by fghting and sometimes even to communities across the border. These militias are located, motivated, armed and fnanced directly by this illegal extraction of minerals, timber and charcoal.
A network of intermediaries including multinational companies or their subsidiaries, neighboring countries and corrupt offcials, are involved in the transportation and procurement of resources which stem from areas controlled by militia, or for which no legal exploitation permission exists.
Recommendations
1. Strengthen MONUC by expanding its mandate to secure full control of border crossings, by any means necessary, with regard to the export of illegally exploited natural resources, that are fnancing the confict, in full collaboration with and assisting the national customs authority to intervene and halt trans-national environmental crime, in close coordination with appropriate national and international bodies.
2. Enhance support for close coordination and trans-boundary collaboration among parks in DRC, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya, including coordination with MONUC, the Lusaka Agreement Task Force and relevant law enforcement agencies.
3. Mobilize resources for trans-boundary collaboration and coordination, including all aspects of transnational environmental crime and investigation from source to end-user outside the region – including investigations of complicit companies in recipient countries, especially but not limited to the EU, USA, People’s Republlic of China and the rest of Asia – in order to monitor the origin and halt the purchase of illegally exploited and smuggled minerals and timber from the Congo Basin.
4. Mobilize funding for judicial training and cross-boundary training of judicial staff in national and transnational environmental crime in gorilla range states to assist in bringing successful prosecutions.
5. Strengthen long term training programmes in law enforcement for park rangers and wildlife managers across the region including those working outside of parks, for example in community reserves, with particular reference to anti-poaching, monitoring, scene of crime investigation and intelligence gathering.
6. Promote the essential role that local, national and international law enforcement and anti-corruption plays in ensuring the success of rainforest protection and climate mitigation efforts under REDD+ and source specifc fnance for these measures through UNEP, UNODC, LATF and INTERPOL.
7. Establish a fund for supporting trans-boundary investigation and collaboration on trans-national environmental crime.
8. Strengthen the collaboration of UNEP, UN offce for Drugs and Crime (UNODC), UN Department of Peace Keeping Operations (DPKO), CITES, World Customs Organization (WCO) and INTERPOL on trans-national environmental crime – including illegal trade in valuable natural resources such as minerals, wood products and wildlife – by, for example, secondment of experienced offcers to help investigate cases and bring about prosecutions.
9. Support the need for strengthened funding for gorilla research and survey data. The report, compiling some of the most recent data and information from a variety of sources, clearly highlights the lack of accurate survey data in parts of the regions within the 10 gorilla range states.
VIDEO: Satinder Bindra interviews Christian Nelleman
http://www.grida.no/publications/rr/gorilla/UNEP/GRID-Arendal - Publications - Last Stand of the Gorilla
Gorillas, the largest... more
-
-
Gorilla.cd - Protecting the Mountain Gorillas of Virunga
2008 Filed under (Rangers) by Norbert Mushenzi @ 5:33 pm
Our Ranger Louis Kabwana passed away in the early hours of the morning. He had been ill shortly before the evacuation on 10th October. We had taken him to the clinic in Goma, but providing adequate treatment has been incredibly difficult in recent weeks. He was carried by our Rangers on his final journey, accompanied his family and by myself and the Director, and all the members of our refugee camp in Goma. It was a simple, dignified occasion.
Louis Kabwana dedicated his whole life to the mountain gorillas of Mikeno. He joined the Park in 1971 as part of the team protecting the gorillas, and had worked there ever since. He leaves a widow and 9 children. Gorilla.cd - Protecting the Mountain Gorillas of Virunga
2008 Filed under (Rangers)... more
-
-
Gearing up 4 Gorillas: Nokia Mobile Phones Needed!
This group is part of the Gorilla Protection {Wildlife Direct}
http://gorilla.wildlifedirect.org/
This is a post made by Linda in the G4G Blog { http://www.g4g.co.uk/wp/?p=174 }
Hi everyone,
G4G vice chair Kim & myself are off out to Rwanda and DR Congo on the 25th September. We hope to meet the two G4G trucks as they arrive at Rumangabo - which would be very exciting! However, we have quite a bit of excess baggage free at the moment and a call has come in, asking for Nokia mobile phones for the rangers. They get the SIM cards in DR Congo, so no worries about those. May we ask that if you have or know of any Nokia phones lying around unused and/or unwanted, would you please consider sending them on to us & we can take them out - you’ll make a ranger very happy! Nokia is by far the most popular phone in DR Congo.
Kim & myself leave on the 25th September so not long to go - but please think about any Nokias lying in that drawer!
If you don’t mind popping it / them in the post, we’ll def take them out with us.
Post to:
L. Nunn, 87 Chapel Farm Cottage, Gussage St Andrew, Blandford, Dorset, , DT11 8DL
Many thanks in anticipation - we’ll let you know how many we take out…….
Linda
Chair, G4G
Gearing up 4 Gorillas: Nokia Mobile Phones Needed!
This group is part of the... more
-
-
"Heavy fighting broke out at 3.30am today between rebels and the army around the Gorilla Sector, specifically near the patrol post of Bukima and going down toward Rumangabo park station. The situation had been calm for some months but all this has just changed.
This is Samantha. I was at Rumangabo this morning with Diddy, Innocent, Balemba, Pierre and others and you could hear the mortars being fired not so far away and reverberating through the hills.
It is not clear who attacked who first - ie the rebels attacked the army first or vice versa. But one thing is for sure, the army is sending in major reinforcements.
When we left Rumangabo heading toward Goma we came across a convoy of military vehicles carrying all kinds of heavy weaponry and soldiers. Weapons are not my area of expertise, but there was definitely a wide array on display of all shapes and sizes - and also something called Stalin’s organ, a weapon with multiple tubes that looks like an organ and presumably fires a rocket from each hole.
I just spoke to Diddy and the bombing continues as I write.
There is one thing for certain though. If we can hear the bombing and mortars, so can the gorillas. If human populations around this area feel threatened, so do the gorillas.
I will keep you up to date."
"Heavy fighting broke out at 3.30am today between rebels and the army around the... more
-
-
Gorilla Silverback Filmed at Gatovu!
"This is Innocent. Yesterday I got a call from our rangers at the Gatovu Patrol Post. They told me that they had seen a solitary gorilla in the forest nearby. I immediately went over there to identify which individual it was.
We found the gorilla at about 10 minutes from the patrol post. I was amazed to see that it was Buhanga, the solitary silverback that had once belonged to the group now led by Kabirizi.
It was fantastic to once again see a gorilla in the wild- it was the first time since last year when the rebels took over the Mikeno Sector of the park. As you can see from the video, Buhanga has grown a lot bigger since last time I saw him!"
*Innocent & Diddy are Congolese rangers that protect the Mountain Gorillas. They monitor and carry out protection activities on the ground. Congolese rangers risk their lives to save mountain gorillas of the Virunga National Park in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
To see how you can help, please visit: http://gorilla.wildlifedirect.org/2008/08/21/gorilla-silverback-filmed-at-gatovu/
GorillaProtection.org
Gorilla Silverback Filmed at Gatovu!
"This is Innocent. Yesterday I got a call... more
-
