Virunga faces a new threat in the face of plans to drill for
oil in Africa’s oldest national park.
This beautiful region, which is so rich in natural resources and home to
no less than three taxa of great ape, enters a new and potentially devastating
phase.
Virunga and the communities that live there have endured
many periods of conflict. It is one of the most difficult places in the world
to be a Park Ranger, with 120 killed protecting the park and its wildlife and
civilians in recent years, and many more injured.
Around one third of the world’s last remaining mountain
gorillas live in Virunga and are themselves under threat, from habitat loss due
to illegal charcoal production and pressure for land, transmission of human
diseases, poaching, and snares for bush meat hunting, compounded by decades of
conflict.
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| Mountain gorillas at rest |
But conflict and exploitation should not be allowed to
define the park, which is so beautiful, rich and diverse. Here at Gearing up
for Gorillas (G4G), we believe that environmental education holds the key to
protecting Virunga in the long term and ensuring the critically endangered
mountain gorillas live there unharmed for generations to
come.
That’s why G4G helped fund the school in Rumangabo, in the
national park, where many of the park rangers’ children now study. In 2012, we
also delivered a pedal powered cinema to Virunga, thanks to generous funding
from Animal Friends Insurance and a partnership with Electric Pedals. Now
conservation films can be shown in remote schools with no electricity. The
first showing, at Rumangabo School, was greeted with great excitement and the
rangers called it “an awesome bit of kit”.
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| Children watching a pedal-powered cinema |
The next stage of the education programme is to open an
Environmental Education Centre in Virunga, which children from other
communities across the National Park can visit. The building has already been
constructed; the funding for a teacher and their training is secured, so just
the displays, equipment and resources are left to fund.
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| The environmental education centre |
Basic but interactive displays will be used to make the
Centre bright, colourful and engaging. The displays and activities will have
clear and simple messages that the children can have fun discovering.
Children visiting the Centre will be treated to a brief
visit to the orphan mountain gorilla facility, the Senkwekwe Centre (which G4G
also helped fund). Many of these children will not have seen a mountain gorilla
before, despite living in proximity to them. There will also be a web cam in
the Senkwekwe Centre to relay images back to the classroom.
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Andre and orphan gorilla Ndakasi at the Senkwekwe Centre
|
A visit will be a huge adventure for the children, and it is
hoped the knowledge that they gain will ensure the next generation of community
leaders will value the wildlife and biodiversity of the area and lead
conservation efforts of the future.
The kind of displays that you might see in the Centre could
include giant play cubes painted with wildlife scenery, gorillas, elephants or
hippos, and the colourful birds and flowers of Virunga; or perhaps an exhibit
allowing children to weigh themselves and compare their weight to a mountain
gorilla at various stages of development. The Centre will also feature
appropriate resources about the threats to the gorillas.
The intention is to take templates and designs out to
Virunga, and commission local craftsmen, who will make up displays from local
materials, all paid for by G4G. This will provide work for local carpenters and
ensure an immediate benefit to the local economy.
Pictures, murals and displays for the walls, worksheets,
books and activities, stationary and other equipment will all be needed.
...................................................................................................
Article by Amanda Williams, photos used by the permission of Gearing up 4 Gorillas.
Amanda Williams is Environment & Energy Manager at Bournemouth University and a Trustee of Gearing up for Gorillas (G4G), the only UK charity focusing 100% on protecting the critically endangered mountain gorillas of Virunga National Park, DRC. The aim of the charity is to support the park rangers and vets, whose job is to protect the mountain gorillas, and their communities.
You can get in touch and support G4G through the following channels:
Gearing up for Gorillas (G4G)
87 Chapel Farm Cottages
Blandford Forum
Tel: 01725 553149 / 07801 531205
Email: linda@g4g.co.uk
Website: www.g4g.co.uk
Twitter:
@G4G_Gorillas
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