Rafiki was one of Uganda's best known and most beloved gorillas. Uganda Wildlife Authority / Facebook
Four poachers in Uganda were arrested for killing one of the country's rare silverback mountain gorillas, according to CNN.
<p>Rafiki was one of Uganda's best known and most beloved gorillas. The 25-year-old gorilla was part of the famed Nkuringo gorilla group that lives in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and is popular with tourists. Mountain gorillas are an <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species">endangered species</a>.</p><p>There are just over 1,000 mountain gorillas in existence. Those low numbers caused the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) to describe the death as a "very big blow," according to the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-53024073" target="_blank">BBC</a>.</p><p>The UWA tweeted out a picture of Rafiki along with a statement about the arrest.</p>
<p>The statement said that one of the detained men had been found in possession of wild hog meat, rope and wire snares and spears. It also said that an investigation of Rafiki's death "after a postmortem report revealed that the Silverback sustained an injury by a sharp device/object that penetrated its left upper part of the abdomen up to the internal organs."</p><p>If the four men accused of killing Rafiki are convicted, they will face a life sentence or a fine of $5.4 million for killing an endangered species, according to the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-53024073" target="_blank">BBC</a>. In the statement, the man who speared Rafiki claimed that they were in a group to hunt in the park when they came across a group of gorillas, and that Rafiki charged at them.</p>
<p>Rafiki first went missing on June 1, but his body was found the next day. At the time Rafiki died, the Nkuringo group had 17 gorillas, the release said. The silverback was the dominant male in the group that also included three blackbacks or younger mature males, eight adult females, two juveniles and three infants, according to the UWA, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/13/africa/rafiki-silverback-gorilla-poachers-trnd/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported. Adult mountain gorillas have the distinctive silverback shading.</p><p>The group was the first to reside in the southern section of the park that is home to about half of the world's mountain gorilla population.</p>
<p>This group led by Rafiki was described as habituated, meaning that its members were used to human contact.</p><p>"The death of Rafiki leaves the group unstable and there is the possibility that it could disintegrate," Bashir Hangi from the UWA told the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-53024073" target="_blank">BBC</a>. "It has no leadership at this time and it could be taken over by a wild silverback."</p><p>If a wild silverback became the dominant male of the group, it might start to shun human contact, which would negatively affect tourism, according to the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-53024073" target="_blank">BBC</a>.</p><p>Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, a UNESCO world heritage site near Uganda's border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, is a 120 square-mile patch of dense tropical forest that is home to primates, elephants, antelopes and other <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife">wildlife</a>. Nearly 400 mountain gorillas live there, which is roughly half the world's population, and, by far, the park's largest attraction to tourists, as <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/popular-25-old-ugandan-gorilla-175513235.html" target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported.</p>
<p>As the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-53024073" target="_blank">BBC</a> reported, mountain gorillas are restricted to protected areas in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda. In addition to making a habitat in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, the species extends out to a network of parks in the Virunga Massif range of mountains that make up the borders of the three countries.</p><p>The International Union for Conservation of Nature upgraded the species' prospects from critically endangered to endangered, after intensive <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation">conservation</a> efforts, including anti-<a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/poaching">poaching</a> patrols, paid off.</p>
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Birds fly over Lake Erie. Residents of Toledo, a city on the shores of heavily polluted Lake Erie in the U.S. state of Ohio, voted to give the lake rights of nature last year. A local farm responded by filing a lawsuit claiming this violated the rights of agribusinesses. Jessica Hetrick / EyeEm / Getty Images
"We see ourselves not as an owner of wild rice but a symbiotic partner and a parallel entity from the Creator," says Frank Bibeau, a lawyer from the Anishinaabe indigenous group in the U.S. and Canada.
<p>Harvesters use flailing sticks to beat the wild rice — or manoomin, by its Anishinaabe name — and release grain into the air. "A good portion of the rice gets sent out in all directions to reseed the rice. Maybe half of it or a little more falls into the canoe for food," Bibeau explains. "So we are part of the natural reseeding process ourselves."<em></em></p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/environmental-protection-should-nature-be-given-rights-enshrined-in-law-a-52186866/a-52186866?maca=en-VAM_volltext_ecowatch-28485-html-copypaste" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Deutsche Welle</a>.</em></p>
<p>Seeking ways to block an <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oil">oil</a> <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pipelines" rel="noopener noreferrer">pipeline</a> through the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/Great-Lakes" rel="noopener noreferrer">Great Lakes</a> ecosystem where his people and the rice have thrived together for generations, Bibeau designed legislation granting wild rice its own rights under tribal law.</p><p>According to the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) that advised Bibeau on the legislation, manoomin is the first plant in the world to be granted rights. But it joins a growing number of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/rivers" rel="noopener noreferrer">rivers</a>, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/forests" rel="noopener noreferrer">forests</a>, and characterizations of nature as a whole, that are protected by "rights of nature" laws around the world.</p>
Indigenous Approaches Written Into Law
<p>"Conventional environmental laws are really about regulating how we use nature," says Mari Margil of CELDF. "The consequences of that have been so devastating that people in different parts of the world are saying we need to make a fundamental shift in our relationship with nature."</p><p>With the idea that indigenous peoples are the most reliable custodians of our planet now repeated by politicians and environmental NGOs alike, giving nature rights suggests a way their approaches might be adopted by broader society.</p><p>It was in this spirit that Ecuador became the first country to enshrine the rights of nature — personified as Pachamama, the Andean earth goddess — in its constitution, in 2008.</p><p><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/Bolivia">Bolivia</a> and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/Uganda" rel="noopener noreferrer">Uganda</a> have since enshrined the rights of nature in their constitutions, and <a href="https://celdf.org/2019/10/media-release-rights-of-nature-constitutional-amendment-introduced-in-swedens-parliament/" target="_blank">an amendment</a> was recently proposed for <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/Sweden" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sweden</a> to do the same.</p>A Healthier Relationship With Nature?
<p>Asserting that nature has intrinsic rights isn't just a legal tool to prosecute polluters. It also challenges the "ecosystem services" approach to environmental protection that costs up the economic value of clean air, water and biodiversity — and even the concept of conservation areas.</p><p>As a national park, land surrounding the Whanganui River in New Zealand was off limits to the Iwi Maori tribe who had hunted and fished there sustainably for generations. In 2017, the dispute was resolved by making the river a person in its own right, owned by neither the state nor the tribe.</p><p>Maori law professor Jacinta Ruru sees it as a major breakthrough that New Zealand law now reflects the relationship the country's indigenous people have with the environment — one that sees no division between what's good for people and the planet.</p><p>"My tribe — we'll talk about your veins in your arms as being like the riverways of the land," explains Ruru. "So you're seeing the health and wellbeing of who you are as a person, your health, your own happiness, as entirely connected with the health and wellbeing of the environment around us."</p>Strategic Compromise
<p>Ruru says it's too soon to judge the ecological impact of the Whanganui River's change of status. And it remains to be seen if the Rights of Manoomin will be any match for the interests invested in the pipeline.</p><p>In Ecuador's case, the new constitution has been used to block plantations and road-building that threatened forest, but it hasn't proved enough to transform an entire system geared toward economic development; cases brought by indigenous activists have ended in Pachamama's rights being trumped by those of <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/55914fd1e4b01fb0b851a814/t/5748568c8259b5e5a34ae6bf/1464358541319/Kauffman++Martin+16+Testing+Ecuadors+RoN+Laws.pdf" target="_blank">businesses</a>.</p><p>Critics also <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2514848618763807" target="_blank">point out</a> that making rivers and forests honorary people owes less to any indigenous deification of nature than to the Western rights discourse.</p><p>"There is a strategic relationship between indigenous communities and the rights of nature," says Mihnea Tanasescu, a political scientist who authored a book on the subject in Ecuador, "but there is not necessarily an intrinsic philosophical affinity, because rights are a very Western legal category."</p><p>Michelle Maloney of the Australian Earth Laws Alliance is developing legislation based on Aboriginal traditions that ground all law in relationships to the land. She says nature rights are a way for different cultural perspectives to work together.</p><p>"The legal personhood argument is getting traction around the world," she says, because "the average Westerner-lawyer type understands it as a construct."</p><p>The Ganges and Yamuna rivers now have legal personhood, as do each of Bangladesh's hundreds of rivers. The <a href="https://celdf.org/advancing-community-rights/rights-of-nature/rights-nature-timeline/" target="_blank">Colombian judiciary</a>, meanwhile, has repeatedly ruled that the rights of rivers of forests had been violated by <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pollution" rel="noopener noreferrer">pollution</a> and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/logging" rel="noopener noreferrer">logging</a>.</p><p>These laws draw on specific local indigenous ideas. Yet a single U.S.-based organization, CELDF, has been instrumental in drafting nature rights legislation around the world.</p>
<p>CELDF worked on the world's first rights of nature law — a local ordinance to <a href="https://celdf.org/2015/08/tamaqua-borough/" target="_blank">stop toxic waste dumping</a> in Pennsylvania — in 2006, and Margil says close to 40 nature rights bills have now been passed in the U.S. Many are brought by activists with no indigenous ties frustrated by a legal system that doesn't recognize damage to nature as a crime until it affects human health or livelihoods.</p>
Conversation-Changer
<p>Last year, one such case made international headlines. Residents of Toledo, a city on the shores of heavily polluted Lake Erie in the U.S. state of Ohio, voted to give the lake rights. A local farm responded by filing a lawsuit claiming this violated the rights of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/agribusiness" rel="noopener noreferrer">agribusinesses</a>. </p><p>Since the bill was more or less quashed by Ohio state legislature, activists are fighting to revive it from legal limbo. But if nothing else, their struggle has drawn attention to the priorities of a legal system that treats nature as property but corporations as legal persons.</p><p>"Often people just don't think about these invisible systems that govern our world," Maloney says. "So as a starting point — and a conversation- and discourse-changer — the rights of nature is very powerful."</p>From Your Site Articles
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EcoWatch Daily Newsletter
An infant mountain gorilla in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda. Gorilla Doctors / Mongabay
The outlook for eastern Africa's mountain gorillas is growing brighter, as a recent census released on Dec. 16 shows that the subspecies' numbers have risen since 2011. Scientists believe there are now at least 1,063 mountain gorillas living in the wild.
<p>Tara Stoinski, the CEO and chief scientific officer of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, said the results of the latest census were "incredible, given what's happening to other wildlife populations, and given the high level of threats that they face."<em></em></p><p>"It's a real testament to the level of conservation action that's happening for these populations," Stoinski told Mongabay.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjE5MTQ0OS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NzIyNzIxM30.DeU8pgfz5VVoAyUTNV289Yj02NZcmrYQh4fSvnfGPKA/img.jpg?width=980" id="4297c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8cac7245056b9faaae8838fead68a896" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
A team participates in a training for the census. Winnie Eckardt / Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund / Mongabay
<p>In the 1980s, the known population of mountain gorillas (<em>Gorilla beringei beringei</em>) in the Virunga Mountains had dwindled to just 240 individuals, as lost habitat, hunting, disease and other threats had exacted a costly toll. By late 2018, though, more than three decades of "extreme conservation" involving the day-to-day protection of gorilla families appeared to be having an impact: A 2016 survey of the gorillas living in the Virungas revealed an increase to 604 animals.</p><p>At the time, scientists pegged the total number of individuals at more than 1,000, and the IUCN <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/mountain-gorillas-recovery-prompts-downlisting-to-endangered-status/" target="_blank">changed the ape's status</a> on the <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/39999/17989719" target="_blank">Red List</a> from critically endangered to endangered.</p><p>But a census of the other mountain gorilla population, found further north in the Bwindi-Sarambwe ecosystem, hadn't taken place since 2011, when researchers figured it held 400 gorillas.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjE5MTQ2MS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NTYzOTE2MH0.9I-uuWtMv4lLWu2DcMQI9EkJkY4iuQb12ZCoshC5Lo4/img.jpg?width=980" id="c7640" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="97ead8dfefa89ca99e981363e7a917e9" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
A silverback mountain gorilla in Uganda. Skyler Bishop / Gorilla Doctors
<p>The 2018 census of the Bwindi-Sarambwe population, which straddles the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, found evidence of at least 459 individuals. The 2011 census covered only Uganda's gorillas. In 2018, however, improved local security allowed teams to include DRC's Sarambwe Nature Reserve as well.</p><p>Mountain gorillas live in three different countries — Uganda, DRC and Rwanda. And the Virunga and Bwindi-Sarambwe populations aren't connected to each other: Though just 50 kilometers (31 miles) separates the edges of the two ranges, the landscape between them no longer has forest that can support gorillas. The researchers and trackers involved in the census say that the disconnected populations and their transboundary ranges have made cooperation vital to both the protection of the animals and to monitoring efforts.</p><p>The recent census was "a great example of collaboration between governments, conservation organizations like the Fossey Fund and local communities," Felix Ndagijimana, who directs the Fossey Fund's Rwanda programs and the Karisoke Research Center, said in a statement.</p><p>In addition to the DRC and Uganda governmental wildlife agencies, the effort, under the Greater Virunga Transboundary Collaboration, included support and funding from more than a dozen conservation NGOs and institutions as well as local communities.</p><p>To carry out the census, survey teams walked "reconnaissance" trails, scouring the ground for fecal samples in a "two-sweep" method — one between March and May 2018, and then again between October and December 2018.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjE5MTQ2NC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1MDIzOTIwOH0.aQZpNjQKfZ0gcHajzAQd5dJBnPdomswwL4PlJc27CfQ/img.jpg?width=980" id="5816c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5c92bc72f8fb3284994e70860b41c2c5" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Veterinarian Fred Nizeyimana performs an emergency snare removal from adult female mountain gorilla in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda. Gorilla Doctors
<p>Tromping through the gorilla's habitat is not easy work, Stoinksi said. "It's called the Bwindi impenetrable forest for a reason."</p><p>"The census work is a tough job — physically demanding, with 12 hours each day of walking through the forest, crossing big ravines and climbing mountains," Prosper Kaberabose, a Fossey Fund tracker, said in a <a href="https://gorillafund.org/bwindi-census/" target="_blank">statement</a>. But by participating in the training before the survey, as well as the census itself, members of the team picked up valuable and marketable skills, Kaberabose said.</p><p>The fecal samples — about 2,000 of them — were then sent to the Veterinary Genetics Laboratory at the University of California, Davis. Analyses conducted there identified 459 individual gorillas.</p><p>"Given ongoing risks to mountain gorillas such as habitat encroachment, potential disease transmission, poaching and civil unrest, this increase should serve as both a celebration and a clarion call to all government, NGO and institutional partners to continue to collaborate in our work to ensure the survival of mountain gorillas," Kirsten Gilardi, executive director of the Gorilla Doctors and a veterinarian at UC Davis, said in a <a href="https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/mountain-gorilla-numbers-rise" target="_blank">statement</a>.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjE5MTQ2NS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTU5ODk0NTE1OX0.m8bhFua45C3xHSh_vsR0FAnngWnBjkf5RW37WV4oAAE/img.jpg?width=980" id="8d4bb" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="95400c2e0eb2ad6d8248c31630b085a9" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p class=""><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/mountain-gorilla-census-reveals-further-increase-in-numbers/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Mongabay</a>.</em></p>An infant mountain gorilla standing on its mother's back in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda. Gorilla Doctors / Mongabay
<p>The teams also noted signs of other animals, including chimpanzees and elephants. Though these mammal populations weren't the focus of the study, they appear to be holding steady, in contrast to declines elsewhere.</p><p>It may be that the conservation efforts to protect gorillas are also helping to keep other species safe, Stoinski said.</p><p>But despite the success of the "extreme conservation" that's gone into bringing mountain gorillas back from the edge of extinction, Stoinski echoed Gilardi's call for continued action. Mountain gorillas are still "conservation-dependent," she said.</p><p>"The really exciting news is that they're increasing," Stoinski said. "The other side of that is they still face a lot of challenges."</p>From Your Site Articles
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A piece by Indonesian woodcut artist Ari Aminuddin. Rise for Climate
Environmentalists and creative minds around the world are gearing up for this month's major climate action events.
This weekend, people in 89 countries will mobilize for the Rise for Climate global grassroots movement. It will feature 748 local events and rallies across the globe, as well as the largest-ever West Coast climate march to be held in San Francisco this Saturday.
<p>
<span></span>Rise for Climate participants seek a fossil-free world powered by 100 percent <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/renewable-energy">renewable energy</a>. They will also demand bold action from policymakers ahead of the <a href="http://globalclimateactionsummit.org/" target="_blank">Global Action Climate Summit</a> in San Francisco from Sept. 12-14.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="0a986" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="S5OXLQ1576662704"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1035223373532553217" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Make art for the resistance! Join Climate Justice Ottawa in Minto Park on Sept 8 to make art communities on the fro… https://t.co/bhG6xlBBSv</div> — KatieRae 🌅 (@KatieRae 🌅)<a href="https://twitter.com/KatieRaeP/statuses/1035223373532553217">1535651460.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p>
To raise awareness for the Rise for Climate mobilizations, organizers commissioned artists from six continents to contribute pieces to the <a href="https://riseforclimate.org/rise-art/" target="_blank">Art for Rise</a> project that anyone can use for their own posters and demonstrations.
</p><p>
The featured artists hail from Brazil, Mânitow Sâkahikan territory in Canada, the Pacific Islands, Europe, Uganda and Indonesia.
</p><p>
One of the artists is Christi Belcourt, a Michif visual artist, Indigenous rights activist and opponent of the
<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/trans-mountain-pipeline">Trans Mountain tar sands pipeline</a>.
</p><p>
"All life, even the rocks, need to be treated with respect," Belcourt
<a href="https://riseforclimate.org/rise-art/" target="_blank">said</a> on the project website. "The sacred laws of this world are respect and reciprocity. When we stop following them, we as a species are out of balance with the rest of the world."
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xODQ3ODk0NC9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNjMwODIwN30.CEQLVuneFus1o2OJEUYF8BPoQfCIT2xPGsxlT4aglS4/img.png?width=980" id="bb356" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="69a7bcb271258264339e03925fb5fdb2" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">From left: Brazilian graffiti and street artist Mundano; Christi Belcourt of the Anishinaabeg territory in Canada; Ugandan poet and cinematographer, John Hillary Balyejusa </small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit..."><a href="http://s.bl-1.com/h/cm64WyxR?url=https://riseforclimate.org/riseforclimate-art-project-is-live/" target="_blank">Rise for Climate</a></small>
</p><p>
Teleise Neemia Lesa, an artist from Samoa and New Zealand, contributed a unique symbol that showcases her solidarity with those in the low-lying Pacific Islands who are living on the frontlines of climate change, she
<a href="https://riseforclimate.org/rise-art/" target="_blank">said</a> on the Rise for Climate website.
</p><p>
"There is a wealth of knowledge that has been passed down through generations of our ancestors living in harmony with nature. Through traditional indigenous practices our ancestors have taught us to respect the land and ocean," she added. "The symbols in this artwork represent powerful connections between our people, the ocean and our lands. The artwork symbolizes our hope to live in harmony with our lands and oceans."
</p><p>
The center of the symbol is a "Kikonang"—the Kirbati word for the coconut leaf windmill—and is a representation of a 100 percent renewable energy future in the Pacific.
</p><p>
Campaigners are welcome to download the artwork to build momentum for the Sept. 8 day of action. The images can be used for posters, art shows, projections, etc. Those interested are also invited to
<a href="https://riseforclimateart.tumblr.com/#submit-trigger" target="_blank">submit</a> their own art work.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xODQ3ODk4NS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NDE5Njg1OX0.Vvp8MB3FUveRcgrCLz0D522DPm91RKpIjIjTeRFvQb4/img.png?width=980" id="965e2" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="1c036f71f3c7ad0609beebad8dff3b43" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">From left: Ari Aminuddin, a woodcut artist from Indonesia; Teleise Neemia Lesa, a Samoan/New Zealand born artist; Portuguese artist Daniela Paes Leão </small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit..."><a href="http://s.bl-1.com/h/cm64WyxR?url=https://riseforclimate.org/riseforclimate-art-project-is-live/" target="_blank">Rise for Climate</a></small>
</p>
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Mountain gorilla family interaction during midday rest. Martin Harvey / WWF
Numbers of critically endangered mountain gorillas are on the up, following conservation efforts in the transboundary Virunga Massif, one of the two remaining areas where the great ape is still found.
<p>Survey results released Thursday reveal that numbers have increased to 604 from an estimated 480 in 2010, including 41 social groups, along with 14 solitary males in the transboundary area. This brings the global wild population of mountain gorillas to an estimated 1,004 when combined with published figures from Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (where the rest of the sub-species is found) and makes it the only great ape in the world that is considered to be increasing in population.<br><br>The findings are the result of intensive surveying coordinated by the Greater Virunga Transboundary Collaboration and supported by the International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP—a coalition program of <a href="https://www.fauna-flora.org/" target="_blank">Fauna & Flora International</a> (FFI) and World Wildlife Fund <a href="https://www.worldwildlife.org/" target="_blank">WWF</a>) along with other partners.<br><br>Despite this good news, the survey found that direct threats from wire or rope snares persist. During the surveys, the teams found and destroyed more than 380 snares, which were set for antelope but can also kill or harm gorillas. One of the snares discovered by the teams contained a dead mountain gorilla. There are also new threats looming large on the horizon, including <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change">climate change</a>, infrastructure development and the ever-present specter of disease, which has the potential to devastate the remaining populations.<br><br>Ongoing conflict and civil unrest in the region also present an ongoing risk, impacting people and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife">wildlife</a>. A number of rangers have been killed in recent weeks in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Virunga National Park.<br><br>"This is fabulous news for mountain gorillas and shows what we can do for wildlife when NGOs, governments and their communities work together," said Margaret Kinnaird, wildlife practice leader with WWF. "The mountain gorilla story can be a model for how to restore and maintain our earth's precious <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/biodiversity">biodiversity</a>," she added. <br><br>"Since FFI first began working to protect mountain gorillas in the 1970s, we have seen a remarkable transformation in the fortunes of this great ape, which at that time was on the very precipice of extinction," said Alison Mollon, director of operations for Africa at FFI. "This turnaround is thanks to the extraordinary efforts of all those who have persisted through immense challenges—sometimes even risking their own lives—to protect these great apes."</p><p><em> </em>The census involved twelve teams—comprising people from more than 10 institutions—which covered more than 2,000 kilometers (approximately 1,243 miles) of difficult, forested terrain systematically searching the mountain gorilla habitat for signs of the animals, recording nest sites and collecting faeces samples for genetic analysis. The teams also looked for evidence of threats to gorillas and other wildlife.<br><br>Reacting to the news, FFI vice president and WWF-UK ambassador Sir David Attenborough said: "When I first visited the mountain gorillas in 1979, the situation was dire; the number of these remarkable animals was dreadfully small. It is incredibly heartening therefore to see how the efforts of so many different groups—communities, governments, NGOs—have paid off. The threats to mountain gorillas haven't disappeared entirely, of course, so now the challenge must be to ensure that these achievements are sustained long into the future."</p><p>The survey results underscore the need for continued attention and action by government agencies, protected area staff, tourism operators, tourists and communities alike, to ward off these threats and keep mountain gorillas safe in the long term.</p>
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</p><div id="2b925" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="MGYM3J1576662876"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="936355452891394049" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Top 25 Most Endangered Primates: the Most Current List https://t.co/IPIr8ICAJa @ImageOfWildlife @JaneGoodallInst</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/936355452891394049">1512079511.0</a></blockquote></div>
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