Category: News

Buea, Cameroon – The African Conservation Foundation (ACF) and the Environment and Rural Development Foundation (ERuDeF) have launched a campaign aimed at raising awareness and funds for Cross River Gorilla conservation.

The campaign assists the international efforts of the YoG Partners to secure a long-term viable future for gorillas in the wild. The elusive Cross River Gorillas are hard to spot deep in the rainforest. An expedition is planned to survey the entire range of the remaining gorilla family groups and identify suitable locations for a rescue and research facility. Currently there are less than 300 Cross River gorillas in the wild.

Today’s launch of a new publication on gorillas will support the survival of gorilla populations and mark the Year of the Gorilla 2009. “Gorillas – the Gentle Giants” by Martin Harvey, a wildlife photographer, and Letitia Farris-Toussaint, conservation writer, will support the educational objective of the Year of the Gorilla to raise awareness of these amazing creatures and the threats they face. Ian Redmond OBE, Ambassador of the Year of the Gorilla, has lent his scientific expertise to review the book.

Evans Mitchell Books, the publisher, will donate part of the profits to YoG projects. The funds will be used to help fund expert-selected, high-priority projects to protect gorillas and their habitats. Robert Hepworth, CMS Executive Secretary said: “This nature book pursues a twofold aim: It allows us to access the mysterious world of these awe-inspiring giants of the forests that so desperately need our help. At the same time, this book will help us to support projects under the UN Year of the Gorilla to save the remaining populations of these great apes.”

James Brooks is 12 years old and lives in London, Ontario, Canada. He has loved apes all his life and ever since he was old enough to understand the threats they face he has tried to help them.

When he was 11, he started a project called 1000classrooms in cooperation with the Canadian Ape Alliance. He hopes to get 1 000 Western classrooms to each donate $3 (only cents for each kid) to buy a dozen eggs for children at the Kahuzi-Biega Environmental school in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The eggs are sold by the widows of Park Rangers who were slain or died while protecting the endangered Eastern Lowland Gorillas living in Kahuzi-Biega National Park.

Through the project, the widows are given an opportunity to earn an income, the children and the teachers are given nutritious food, and the gorillas are made safer because there is less demand to kill them for food or encroach on their habitat. The “Eggs for Kids” program (see www.great-apes.com/projects/eggs/eggsforkids.htm) ensures that each child and teacher at the school is given 1 egg per day.

Any classroom or group (such as guides or scouts) can get involved in this great program, from preschool to University. When the program reaches its goal, 12 000 eggs will be donated and over 25 000 children will have been made more aware of issues facing children and animals in Africa. James will have helped kids, widows, Africa, and the environment. Most importantly, he will have proven that one can make a large difference even with very small donations.

Please visit and consider encouraging all students, teachers and gorilla friends you know to get involved.

James also gave us an explanation of how his projects helps to support the 8 U.N Millenium Goals:
“1) End poverty and hunger–it gives the families both an income and nutritious food.
2) Universal Education–it is for a school in Africa and also educates the kids who support it all over the world.
3) Gender equality–this allows the widows to have an income and be self-sustaining.
4) Child health–this ensures the kids get nutritious food and a safe environment.
5) Maternal health–by empowering the women of the village this should help Mothers.
6) Combat HIV/AIDS–the project does not do this directly but in educating the children in Africa where the epidemic is so horrible I hope it helps.
7) Environmental Sustainability–the project directly helps gorillas and their habitat. The kids go to an “environmental school” and learn about protecting the environment.
8) Global Partnership–we are getting kids from various countries all connected with each other to help people, gorillas, and our planet.”

We are happy to see a young person becoming so proactively involved for gorilla conservation and sustainable development. We encourage many more ‘Eggs for kids’ campaigns.

James has another website called www.apeaware.org, on which he raises awareness about apes. It is aimed especially at kids and features information and also some fun stuff.

1000 classrooms was featured on a tv show and in a Canadian Press news story. Here is a link to the story
http://green.sympatico.msn.ca/canadianpressarticle.aspx?cp-documentid=875158

With this fun and educational WAZA-resource for kids and young adults, you can learn about gorillas, their features and habits as well as basics of gorilla communication and other exciting things.

It’s full of nice pictures, schematic drawings and easily accessible explanations. It also features several interactive games and activities and is highly suitable for classroom activities or just plain fun. Enjoy!

Through its founding partner WAZA (World Association of Zoos and Aquariums), the YoG has secured the support of currently over 100 major zoos around the world. These zoos are crucial to educating and raising awareness of the deteriorating situation of gorillas and their habitat, as they are in a good position to reach the general public directly.

Many are also involved in field conservation and undertake fundraising efforts for various gorilla conservation projects.

Bonn – 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 December 1st 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 Year of the Gorilla is part of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.

Three of the four gorilla species are listed as ‘Critically Endangered’ in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. Gorillas are listed on Appendix I of the IUCN. The legally binding CMS Gorilla Agreement on the conservation of gorillas and their habitats in the ten African range states aims at securing the survival of gorilla populations in the wild.

The main threats to gorillas are hunting for food and traditional medicine, destruction of habitat through logging, mining and production of charcoal, the effects of armed conflicts and diseases like Ebola.

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).

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).

Several news articles and blogs have noted that the launch of Looking for Miza will help to raise attention  to the crisis facing mountain gorillas in Congo. We are also really pleased that the book will also raise funds. When we started the project to do the book with Craig Hatkoff, we had three important objectives

1. To raise awareness. This book is currently in English and will be translated into a number of languages including native languages in Africa where it will be distributed. The Scholastic Junior corp of journalists from Rwanda will be helping to deliver messages across East and Central Africa and to the rest of the world through the Scholastic website.

2. To help people get involved in Gorilla conservation. We saw how this can work in New York on Friday when children in in the USA and globally were involved in the launch of the book and submitted hundreds of ideas to the website. Scholastic will continue to provide opportunities for involvement through their website.

3. We also aimed to raise funds for Gorilla conservation and already US$ 150,000 has been set aside to support rangers in the Virunga National Park from the Owen and Mzee Foundation. This should help to support many rangers over a one year period.

The situation in eastern Congo seems to be worse than ever and it’s now a year since the rebels have been in control of teh gorilla sector. Miza, and her family are at great risk. According to this article on MSNBC fighting continues near the park as Nkunda tries to extend his area of control. Just last month four people were killed and several injured (18 of them rebels) .  This may be why Emmanuel, Innocent and Diddy were unable to travel to New York to attend the launch of the book “Looking for Miza”.

Given the seriousness of the situation we are interested in your thoughts and ideas on how this children’s book can help to  raise awareness, involvement and funds for gorilla conservation.