United Nations declare 2009 ‘Year of the Gorilla’

One of humankind’s closest living relative, the gorilla, is disappearing. In an effort to conserve these magnificent creatures, 2009 was declared by the United Nations as Year of the Gorilla. The Year of the Gorilla was launched to boost the protection of the gorilla and its habitat.

Gorillas are the largest of the living primates and among the largest inhabitants of the forests of Africa. The word “gorilla” comes from the history of Hanno the Navigator, a Carthaginian explorer on an expedition on the West African coast. They encountered a group of savage people, majority of whom were hairy women. The interpreters called them “Gorillae”.

Gorillas, closely related to humans, are highly intelligent. The DNA of gorillas is 98%–99% identical to that of a human. A few individuals in captivity, such as Koko, have been taught a subset of sign language.

Unfortunately, these magnificent animals are endangered. Around 1 million tons of bush meat is removed every year from the forests in the Congo Basin. This is why hunting for food is one of the main threats on gorillas. Habitat destruction through slash-and-burn agriculture and logging are slowly destroying gorilla habitat. The Ebola virus plague in 2004 also wiped out a population of several hundred gorillas in the Odzala National Park, Republic of Congo. A 2006 study published in Science concluded that more than 5,000 gorillas may have died in recent outbreaks of the Ebola virus in central Africa.

At present, only around 700 mountain gorillas are found in Rwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to the United Nations said. There are 300 Cross River gorillas in Nigeria and Cameroon, while in Congo; the eastern lowland gorilla’s population has gone down from 17,000 to about 5,000 in the past 10 years.

The UN Campaign features ecotourism, anti-poaching programs, training using improved agricultural practices and reforestation campaigns, the execution of development projects, and sustainable harvesting of timber. An important factor will be the regions adjoining areas protected for gorilla conservation.

Schools and educational programs are also considered as part of developmental projects aimed at the conservation of gorillas. Environment officials at the United Nations reveals that focus will be centered on usage of low-volume wood-burning stoves in order to safeguard forest habitat, the creation of alternative livelihoods that will take the place of bush meat hunting, with emphasis on beekeeping and ecotourism as a way of saving the endangered gorillas.

The Year of the Gorilla is made possible through the efforts of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA), the UNEP/UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s Great Ape Survival Partnership or GRASP, and the UNEP-CMS.

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