As part of the of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (UNEP/CMS), also known as the Bonn Convention, will declare 2009 the Year of the Gorilla (YoG) on 1 December at its ninth Conference of Parties in Rome.
Partners in this campaign will be the Great Apes Survival Partnership (GRASP), in cooperation with UNEP and UNESCO, and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA).
The CMS convention brokered the CMS Gorilla Agreement on the conservation of gorillas and their habitats in the ten African gorilla range states. This legal agreement aims to secure the survival of gorilla populations in the wild.
The YoG campaign will work for the implementation of the CMS Gorilla Agreement by supporting conservation action in gorilla habitat. Other aspects will be the funding and training of rangers, support for scientific research, development of alternative sources of income, e.g. ecotourism, as well as education and awareness raising. Interested parties will be given the possibility of supporting specific projects presented on the website (www.yog2009.org).
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