 | |
| Formation | 1991 |
|---|---|
| Type | INGO |
| Purpose | Environmental protection |
Region served | Africa |
Director | Eugène Rutagarama |
| Website | www |
Formerly called | Mountain Gorilla Project |
The International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP; French: Programme international de conservation des gorilles) was formed in 1991 to ensure that the critically endangered mountain gorillas are conserved in their habitat in the mountain forests of the Virunga Massif in Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. [1]
The programme grew out of the work of Dian Fossey, who began to study Rwandan mountain gorillas in the 1960s. African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) President Robinson McIlvaine later said that "There would be no mountain gorillas in the Virungas today ... were it not for Dian Fossey's tireless efforts over many years". [2] McIlvaine initiated formation of the Mountain Gorilla Project in 1979, the predecessor to the IGCP, while he was president of the AWF. [3] Rosalind and Conrad Aveling were the first people to manage the Mountain Gorilla Project in Virunga National Park and Rosalind wrote the original proposal for IGCP. The International Gorilla Conservation Programme was formally established in 1991 by the AWF, Fauna & Flora International and the World Wide Fund for Nature. [1]
During the ongoing and linked conflicts of the Rwandan Civil War (1990-1993) followed by the Rwandan genocide of 1994 and the Second Congo War (1998-2003) the best that could be done was to attempt to support park workers, many of whom lost their lives. [1]
The International Gorilla Conservation Programme works with the Rwanda Development Board, the Uganda Wildlife Authority and the Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature. The IGCP tries to gain support for conservation among the local communities, and to ensure that the protected area authorities collaborate with these local communities. [1] Among other activities, the IGCP works with Virunga Artisans, which markets handmade products of artisans who live near the Volcanoes, Mgahinga and Bwindi National Parks. [4] A census of mountain gorillas in the Virunga Massif in March and April 2010 showed that there had been a 26.3% increase in the population over the past seven years, an encouraging sign that conservation efforts were succeeding. [5]
Dian Fossey was an American primatologist and conservationist known for undertaking an extensive study of mountain gorilla groups from 1966 until her murder in 1985. She studied them daily in the mountain forests of Rwanda, initially encouraged to work there by paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey. Gorillas in the Mist, a book published two years before her death, is Fossey's account of her scientific study of the gorillas at Karisoke Research Center and prior career. It was adapted into a 1988 film of the same name.
The Virunga Mountains are a chain of volcanoes in East Africa, in the area where Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and Uganda meet. The mountain range is a branch of the Albertine Rift Mountains, which border the western branch of the East African Rift. They are located between Lake Edward and Lake Kivu. The name "Virunga" is an English version of the Kinyarwanda word ibirunga, which means "volcanoes".
The mountain gorilla is one of the two subspecies of the eastern gorilla. It is listed as endangered by the IUCN as of 2018.
Volcanoes National Park is a national park in northwestern Rwanda. It covers 160 km2 (62 sq mi) of rainforest and encompasses five of the eight volcanoes in the Virunga Mountains, namely Karisimbi, Bisoke, Muhabura, Gahinga and Sabyinyo. It borders Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park in Uganda. It is home to the mountain gorilla and the golden monkey, and was the base for the primatologist Dian Fossey.
The Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (BINP) is in southwestern Uganda. The park is part of the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and is situated along the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) border next to the Virunga National Park and on the edge of the Albertine Rift. Composed of 321 square kilometres (124 sq mi) of both montane and lowland forest, it is accessible only on foot. BINP is a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization-designated World Heritage Site.
Kisoro District is a district in the Western Region of Uganda. The town of Kisoro is the site of the district headquarters.
Mgahinga Gorilla National Park is a national park in southwestern Uganda. It was created in 1991 and covers an area of 33.9 km2 (13.1 sq mi).
The eastern gorilla is a critically endangered species of the genus Gorilla and the largest living primate. At present, the species is subdivided into two subspecies. There are 6,800 eastern lowland gorillas or Grauer's gorillas and 1,000 mountain gorillas. Illegal hunting threatens the species.
The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International is a charity for the protection of endangered mountain gorillas. The Digit Fund was created by Dr. Dian Fossey in 1978 for the sole purpose of financing her anti-poaching patrols and preventing further poaching of the mountain gorillas. Fossey studied at her Karisoke Research Center in the Virunga Volcanoes of Rwanda. The non-profit fund was named in memory of Fossey's favourite gorilla, Digit, who was decapitated by poachers for the offer of US$20 by a Hutu merchant who specialized in selling gorilla heads as trophies and gorilla hands as ashtrays to tourists.
The Albertine Rift montane forests is a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion in east-central Africa. The ecoregion covers the mountains of the northern Albertine Rift, and is home to distinct Afromontane forests with high biodiversity.
Mount Sabyinyo is an extinct volcano in eastern Africa in the Virunga Mountains. Mount Sabyinyo is the oldest volcano of the range. It is north-east of Lake Kivu, one of the African Great Lakes, and west of Lake Bunyonyi in Uganda. The summit of the mountain, at 3,669 metres (12,037 ft), marks the intersection of the borders of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Rwanda, and Uganda, and holds religious significance to local tribes. It also is within the adjoining national parks established by these countries: Virunga National Park in the DRC, the Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda, and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park in Uganda.
Eugène Rutagarama is an environmentalist from Rwanda. He was awarded the "Goldman Environmental Prize" in 2001, for his efforts on saving the population of mountain gorillas in the Volcanoes National Park at Virungas mountains, during the war and recent conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Amy Vedder is an ecologist and primatologist involved in conservation work with mountain gorillas.
The Institute of Tropical Forest Conservation (ITFC) is a post-graduate research institute based in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, in south-western Uganda. The institute is a semi-autonomous part of Mbarara University of Science and Technology and is focused on research, training, and monitoring for conservation management in the Albertine Rift ecoregion.
Mountain Gorilla is a 2010 three-part television series produced by the BBC Natural History Unit that features intimate footage of the last remaining wild population of the eponymous great ape. The BBC filmmakers were granted access to habituated groups of mountain gorillas in their highland stronghold: DR Congo's Virunga National Park and Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. The cameras follow field scientists, veterinary teams, and anti-poaching patrols for six months as they watch over the gorillas, providing medical care, protection, and observations on their daily lives. The study of these apes was initiated by the primatologist Dian Fossey in the late 1960s.
The Bwindi Impenetrable Forest is a large primeval forest located in south-western Uganda in the Kanungu District. The Bwindi forest is on the edge of the Albertine Rift, the western branch of the East African Rift, at elevations ranging from 1,160 to 2,607 metres. The forest contains around 160 species of trees and over 100 species of ferns.
The Great Lakes Twa, also known as Batwa, Abatwa or Ge-Sera, are a Bantu ethnic group native to the African Great Lakes region on the border of Central and East Africa. As an indigenous pygmy people, the Twa are generally assumed to be the oldest surviving population of the Great Lakes region. Current populations of Great Lakes Twa people live in the states of Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and the eastern portion of the Democratic Republic of Congo. In 2000 they numbered approximately 80,000 people, making them a significant minority group in these countries. The largest population of Twa is located in Burundi estimated in 2008 at 78,071 people.
The African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) is the leading international conservation organization focused exclusively on Africa's wildlife and wild lands.
Robinson McIlvaine was an American career diplomat who was President of the African Wildlife Foundation from 1978 to 1982.
