The chief warden for Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo reports that the Congolese army is largely responsible for the increasing amount of poaching taking place in the Park. Eight battalions are stationed around the boarders and they are turning to bush meat to feed themselves and to sell on the black market. The elephant population has declined by 90% in the past twenty years. Buffalos have also been decimated. Now endangered lions appear to be the wild meat of choice [photo courtesy,
Gorilla CD]. Rangers are sorely outnumbered by the undisciplined soldiers, 10 to 1. Despite their unquestioned bravery--about 200 park rangers have been killed in the line of duty--the rangers are under equipped and
in need of aircraft for rapid transport and surveillance.
Virunga NP is also the home of the mountain gorillas. A recent UN report tells a grim story of the future of the gorillas. [photo courtesy
rescuetherainforest.org] They may be largely gone by 2020 due to human encroachment on forest habitat and the increasing demand for bushmeat. The report estimates that just 10% of undisturbed gorilla habitat will remain by 2030. Militias operating in the eastern part of the troubled country are blamed for most of the damaging illegal trade in minerals, timber and charcoal. The trade is 2 to 10 times official estimates. Militia control of boarder crossings alone brings in $14 to $50 million annually, used to perpetuate the conflict. The insecurity caused by the civil unrest has driven hundreds of thousand of people into refugee camps. Poachers keep the camps supplied with wild animals for food, and they have little respect for international efforts to enforce wildlife protection agreements. But the mountain gorillas have faired better than their lowland relatives because of strong joint efforts to protect them by Rwanda, Uganda and DRC law enforcement officials, along with local community support generated by benefit sharing.
The chief warden for Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo reports that the Congolese army is largely responsible for the increasing amount of poaching taking place in the Park. Eight battalions are stationed around the boarders and they are turning to bush meat to feed themselves and to sell on the black market. The elephant population has declined by 90% in the past twenty years. Buffalos have also been decimated. Now endangered lions appear to be the wild meat of choice [photo courtesy, Gorilla CD]. Rangers are sorely outnumbered by the undisciplined soldiers, 10 to 1. Despite their unquestioned bravery--about 200 park rangers have been killed in the line of duty--the rangers are under equipped and in need of aircraft for rapid transport and surveillance.
Virunga NP is also the home of the mountain gorillas. A recent UN report tells a grim story of the future of the gorillas. [photo courtesy rescuetherainforest.org] They may be largely gone by 2020 due to human encroachment on forest habitat and the increasing demand for bushmeat. The report estimates that just 10% of undisturbed gorilla habitat will remain by 2030. Militias operating in the eastern part of the troubled country are blamed for most of the damaging illegal trade in minerals, timber and charcoal. The trade is 2 to 10 times official estimates. Militia control of boarder crossings alone brings in $14 to $50 million annually, used to perpetuate the conflict. The insecurity caused by the civil unrest has driven hundreds of thousand of people into refugee camps. Poachers keep the camps supplied with wild animals for food, and they have little respect for international efforts to enforce wildlife protection agreements. But the mountain gorillas have faired better than their lowland relatives because of strong joint efforts to protect them by Rwanda, Uganda and DRC law enforcement officials, along with local community support generated by benefit sharing.