Founded | 1 June 2006 |
---|---|
Founder | Richard Leakey |
Focus | Conservation |
Location |
|
Area served | Worldwide |
Method | Awareness, Fund raising, blogging |
Key people | Richard Leakey Harold Wackman Paula Kahumbu |
Website | wildlifedirect |
WildlifeDirect is a Kenya and US registered charitable organisation founded by African conservationist Richard Leakey. Its main office is located in Nairobi, Kenya.
WildlifeDirect was established in 2006 to provide support to conservationists in Africa directly on the ground via the use of blogs, which enables anybody, anywhere to play a direct and interactive role in the survival of some of the world's most precious species.
WildlifeDirect takes no administration fee for the funds that are transferred through their website so that the financial support can go to where it was intended in its entirety. Their core costs are provided for separately through grants, primarily from the European Union. [1]
The current CEO is Paula Kahumbu, recipient of the 2021 Rolex Award from the National Geographic Society.
In January 2007, Congo Rangers in charge of gorilla protection from Virunga National Park reported through their blogs with WildlifeDirect that one solitary male, silverback mountain gorilla had been killed and butchered. A week later WildlifeDirect reported the death of another male mountain gorilla, later identified as Karema, in the same area. His remains, principally his head, had been dumped in a pit latrine. [2]
WildlifeDirect's intervention in the gorillas deaths led to a deal between Congo Rangers and the rebels on the Democratic Republic of Congo side of Virunga National Park, where, despite ceasefire agreements, areas are still controlled by rebel fighters loyal to renegade Congolese army general Laurent Nkunda.
After worldwide publicity about the deaths was generated by WildlifeDirect and the Frankfurt Zoological Society, which works with the charity in the area, the rebel movement even went so far as to issue a press release denying any involvement. [3]
In December 2006, The Advanced Force of the Congo Rangers reported on their WildlifeDirect blog that Mai Mai rebels shot several hundred hippos on the south-western shore of Lake Edward in Virunga National Park, halving an already decimated population. Less than two decades ago, conservationists counted 22,875 hippos in the park, most of them in and around the lake. But an aerial count following the massacre showed that what was once the world's most important hippo stock had been reduced to 315 animals. [4]
Only one significant group of Hippos now remains in Virunga National Park, in Ishango on the Northern shore of Lake Edward. To help secure the safety of these animals, WildlifeDirect set up a blog for Atamato Madrandele, the Park Ranger responsible for the Ishango Sector.
Lions
In Kenya for Masaai youth to join the ranks of morans, the initiated young men, they have to kill a lion, either as a group or individually, this in turn does no justice to the lion populations near where the Masaai live. The Lion Guardians project started in 2006 in response to the slaughtering of lions in 2001 and works by getting the Masaai morans to protect these lions instead of killing them. These morans are employed and tasked with tracking, monitoring and conserving the lions. The Lion Guardian project won the $100,000 St Andrews Prize for the Environment in 2012.
Since the start of the project, there have very few cases of lion spearing and killings where the project has been rolled out, and the Lion Guardians have been documenting their work on their blog. [5]
North Kivu is a province bordering Lake Kivu in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Its capital is Goma. The 2020 population was estimated to be 8,147,400.
Lake Edward is one of the smaller African Great Lakes. It is located in the Albertine Rift, the western branch of the East African Rift, on the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda, with its northern shore a few kilometres south of the equator.
Virunga National Park is a national park in the Albertine Rift Valley in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was created in 1925. In elevation, it ranges from 680 m (2,230 ft) in the Semliki River valley to 5,109 m (16,762 ft) in the Rwenzori Mountains. From north to south it extends approximately 300 km (190 mi), largely along the international borders with Uganda and Rwanda in the east. It covers an area of 8,090 km2 (3,120 sq mi).
The term Mai-Mai or Mayi-Mayi refers to any kind of community-based militia group active in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that is formed to defend local communities and territory against other armed groups. Most were formed to resist the invasion of Rwandan forces and Rwanda-affiliated Congolese rebel groups, but some may have formed to exploit the war to their own advantage by looting, cattle rustling or banditry.
Queen Elizabeth National Park is a national park in the Western Region of Uganda.
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 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.
Tourism in Rwanda is the largest source of foreign exchange earnings in Rwanda. It was projected to grow at a rate of 25% every year from 2013-2018. The sector is the biggest contributor to the national export strategy. Total revenue generated from the sector in 2014 alone was USD 305 million.
Prince Emmanuel de Merode is a conservationist and anthropologist. He has been the director of Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) since 2008.
Ishango is a Congolese lakeshore site located in the north-eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo in Africa, previously known as Zaire. This present day village is known as a "fishermen settlement" as it lies on the shores of the Semliki River, flowing out of Lake Edward, serving as one of the sources of the Nile River. This site is known best for its rich biodiversity and archaeological significance, indicating previous human occupation.
The wildlife of the Democratic Republic of the Congo includes its flora and fauna, comprising a large biodiversity in rainforests, seasonally flooded forests and grasslands.
Augustin Kambale is the head of the Bukima ranger patrol post, in the Mikeno sector of Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. His patrol group has gained notoriety in recent years due to the importance of Virunga to conservationists, as it serves as the refuge for 100 of the world's 700 remaining silverback gorillas. It has also been subjected to numerous bloody attacks from rebels camped or residing outside of the park boundaries; since 1996, over 120 Virunga rangers have been murdered by rebels such as the Mai Mai and the forces of General Laurent Nkunda. However, Nkunda signed a ceasefire in February 2007 with the government in Kinshasa, thus allowing for the rangers at Virunga to focus more on their jobs as conservationists.
Tourism in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is uncommon. Tourists can see wildlife, indigenous cultures, and geological phenomena not found easily or anywhere else in Africa.
iGorilla is a software application (app) that is designed for use with the internet and multimedia enabled smartphones iPhone or iPod Touch, which were created by Apple Inc. iGorilla is the first app to be dedicated to the protection of mountain gorillas and is evidence that organizations involved in wildlife conservation are using digital media technology to raise funds and awareness by communicating directly with people who are concerned about the planet’s biological heritage.
Martin Aveling 'Mart' is an artivist who uses his work to promote wildlife conservation and generate funds for its support.
The African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) is an international conservation organization created with the intent of preserving Africa's wildlife, wild lands, and natural resources.
Virunga is a 2014 British documentary film directed by Orlando von Einsiedel. It focuses on the conservation work of park rangers within the Congo's Virunga National Park during the rise of the violent M23 Rebellion in 2012 and investigates the activity of the British oil company Soco International within the UNESCO World Heritage Site. Soco International ended up officially exploring oil opportunities in Virunga in April 2014. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on 17 April 2014. After airing on Netflix, it was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
Environmental issues in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are the consequence of compounding social and economic problems, including lack of access to clean energy, clearing of lands for agriculture and economic development, and armed conflict. Major environmental issues in DRC include deforestation, poaching, which threatens wildlife populations, water pollution and mining.
The Virunga Foundation is a non-governmental organisation working in the field of nature conservation. Registered in London and funded by the European Union, it is focused on protecting the wildlife in Virunga National Park in partnership with the Democratic Republic of Congo's ICNN. Its name between 2005 and 2014 was African Conservation Fund.
Events in the year 2021 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.