AWF Annual Report 2012 (English) Page 16

Yea

-201

hen Dian Fossey arrived in the virunga volcanoes
to study mountain gorillas in 1966, she encountered

gentle creatures that were being poached for trophy body
parts or killed in order to sell infant gorillas to wildlife
traffickers. her work--which i am proud to say i was
a part of in my early career--led to a groundbreaking
collaboration between conservation organizations
to protect the mountain gorilla. originally rwanda's
mountain Gorilla project, by 1991 this collaboration
had evolved into the international Gorilla conservation
programme (iGcp)--a coalition of AWF, Fauna and Flora
international (FFi), and World Wide Fund for nature
(WWF), operating across the
three countries where the
mountain gorilla ranges.

twenty years later, iGcp has

worked closely with national
park authorities to help
grow the mountain gorilla
population to 880 individuals
from less than 300 in the
early 1980s. the mountain
gorilla is the only great ape
species in the world experiencing a population increase.

And, through iGcp's efforts, communities living near

mountain gorillas in rwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic
republic of congo (Drc) have come to value this gentle
giant, both for its tourism draw and for its own sake.

Future course

the unfortunate reality of conservation, though, is that

events change in the blink of an eye. And although
iGcp has enjoyed two decades of success, AWF and our
coalition partners recognize that there is no room for
complacency when it comes to great ape conservation.

As i write this, we face a tense situation in Drc's
virunga national park, where armed conflict continues

between rebels and the congolese army. instability
prevents regular monitoring of the habituated

mountain gorilla families
living there. Before that,
we were grappling with
the kidnappings of infant
gorillas by despicable
wildlife traffickers.

And, though incidences

are rare, mountain gorillas
still die by being caught in
antelope snares.

this is why AWF, FFi,

and WWF, together with the wildlife authorities
of rwanda, Uganda, and Drc, continue to evolve
the strategic direction of iGcp--asking how iGcp's
experience and expertise can best benefit mountain
gorillas in the future.

A Milestone Reached, But Stepping

Forward to the Future

By Craig R. Sholley, vice president for philanthropy and marketing, AWF,

and former director, Mountain Gorilla Project

The unfortunate reality

of conservation, though,

is that events change

in the blink of an eye

1991

IGCP is founded

1994

IGCP is instrumental
in protecting gorillas during
Rwandan genocide

2006

Mountain gorilla census shows
population increase, to 720
individuals

Wildlife