Posted on 07 December
2010
A census of the
world’s largest mountain gorilla population
has counted 480 animals, an increase of
100 - more than a quarter - since the last
count in 2003.
The gorillas surveyed
live in Central Africa’s Virunga Massif
region, a volcanic mountain ecosystem consisting
of three adjacent national parks spanning
parts of Democratic Republic of the Congo
(DRC), Uganda and Rwanda.
A fourth park, southwestern Uganda’s Bwindi,
is home to an additional 302 mountain gorillas,
the only other remaining wild population,
which together with four orphaned mountain
gorillas in a sanctuary in the DRC brings
the wild population to 786.
The Virunga census was conducted in March
and April 2010 by local authorities with
the support of the International Gorilla
Conservation Programme (IGCP), a coalition
of several conservation organizations, including
WWF.
‘’This is vivid testimony to the commitment
of the Rwanda, Uganda and DRC governments,
in addition to their supporting partners
including IGCP, to ensuring the sustained
protection of this charismatic species,”
said David Greer, African Great Ape Coordinator
at WWF. “The survey results provide us with
an excellent demonstration of how strong
law enforcement efforts put in place to
safeguard flagship species can advance species
conservation, benefit local communities,
and provide important revenue to governments.”
The current figure represents an annual
growth rate of 3.7% in Virunga despite the
illegal killing of no less than nine mountain
gorillas in the area over the past seven
years, according to IGCP. Of the gorillas
surveyed, 352 have been habituated to human
presence, 349 living in groups and three
solitary silverback males. Habituated mountain
gorillas have been the basis of a sustainable
eco-tourism programme since the late 1970s.
“Unfortunately, as we continue efforts to
replicate the successful mountain gorilla
eco-tourism model elsewhere in Central Africa,
weak government support for wildlife protection,
rampant corruption and an uninviting tourism
culture make for a much more challenging
environment,” said Greer. “To date, no gorilla
tourism programmes west of the Virungas
have achieved fiscal success.”
“The mountain gorilla is the only one of
the nine subspecies of African great apes
experiencing a population increase. While
we celebrate this collective achievement,
we must also increase efforts to safeguard
the remaining eight subspecies of great
apes,” said Greer. “Elsewhere in African
great ape range states, government support
of wildlife law enforcement efforts is shockingly
weak and great apes continue to be poached
in an environment of pervasive, legal impunity.”
To conduct the Virunga census, over 1,000
kilometres were systematically walked by
six mixed teams of seventy-two people from
DRC, Rwanda, and Uganda. Teams covered the
entire range and meticulously documented
fresh signs of gorilla groups. Mountain
gorillas make a new nest each night. Genetic
analysis of fecal samples were collected
and analyzed to identify and correct for
any double-counting of individuals or groups,
ensuring the most accurate estimate for
the population.
''While the results
of the survey are encouraging, many imminent
threats continue to loom over great ape
populations throughout Central Africa including
commercial poaching to supply bushmeat to
wealthy urbanites, habitat destruction through
illegal logging and land conversion, and
the spread of highly infectious diseases
such as Ebola hemorrhagic fever," said
Greer. "Moreover, the recent decision
by the DRC government to open the Virunga
National Park, Africa’s first National Park,
a UN World Heritage Site, and DRC’s only
home to the mountain gorilla, to oil exploration,
is extremely disappointing and reveals that
there is much progress to be made in balancing
the need to maintain critical biodiversity
regions in the face of competing government
interests.''?
The Virunga Massif mountain
gorilla census was conducted by the protected
area authorities in three countries: L’Institut
Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature,
the Rwanda Development Board and the Uganda
Wildlife Authority. The census was supported
by the International Gorilla Conservation
Programme (a coalition of WWF, the African
Wildlife Foundation, and Fauna & Flora
International), the Max Planck Institute
for Evolutionary Anthropology, the Dian
Fossey Gorilla Fund – International and
the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project.
The census was funded by WWF, Fair Play
Foundation, and the Netherlands Directorate
General for International Cooperation (DGIS)
through the Greater Virunga Transboundary
Collaboration.
Around 100,000 visitors
a year come to the national park, about
half from outside India.
+ More
Wealthy, poor governments
must unite on new source of funding to fight
climate change - 4 Dec 2010
Posted on 04 December
2010
Cancun, Mexico – To move the current climate
talks forward, both wealthy and poor governments
must embrace innovative ways to pay for
climate change adaptation and mitigation,
and in particular back proposals to use
untapped revenue from the shipping and aviation
industries to fund these initiatives.
Governments taking part
in the current United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process
have been making slow progress on finding
ways to pay for a shift to a green economy
that can also deal with the devastating
effects of climate change.
In Cancun this week,
much of the financing focus has been on
the creation of a new global fund to address
climate and how it will be managed.
While an agreement on
how to make the fund operational is expected
in Cancun, finding appropriate financing
mechanisms for the fund – one acceptable
to both rich and poor nations – is a key
component of the talks that likely would
help unlock the financing puzzle at the
center of the negotiations.
Governments are considering
proposals to raise revenue from the international
shipping and aviation industry by either
charging for emission permits or through
levies on fuels,a currently unregulated
sector. This approach can play a pivotal
role in moving forward parts of the current
talks deadlocked around how to pay for actions
to fight climate change, WWF said.
“Negotiators must see
this as a fair, doable opportunity for ready-made
cash revenue that can generate guaranteed
sums of public finance that in turn can
be directed to climate adaptation and mitigation
in developing countries,” said Gordon Shepherd,
leader of WWF’s Global Climate Initiative.
“Success in pursuing this approach would
show that the UNFCCC process can cut through
the gridlock of polarized positions and
mistrust on how to fund global actions to
fight climate change.”
“These are lean times,
and this is an untapped revenue source –
governments can turn political will to address
a growing emission problem into cash by
embracing this approach.”
An independent group
of financial experts and senior officials,
known as the UN Secretary General’s High
Level Advisory Group (AGF), last month confirmed
it was feasible to mobilize at least USD
100 billion to fund climate actions in developing
countries.
The advisory group drew on proposals already
being discussed by the International Maritime
Organization and the UNFCCC aimed at avoiding
placing an additional burden on developing
countries while at the same time generating
revenue from the global shipping and aviation
sectors. The solution involves a rebate
to developing countries reflecting their
share of the goods shipped, to avoid a burden
on them. The revenue attributed to developed
countries will be channelled through a fund
under the UNFCCC to support climate actions.
Already this week at
the climate negotiations, some developing
countries have criticized proposals to raise
public money from the aviation and shipping
industries, saying the so-called ‘Bunker’
financing plan – named after the shorthand
for fuel used in the international transport
industry - would restrict their economic
growth.
In a paper released
to delegates at the climate talks today,
WWF said “one of the most promising innovative
sources of public financing for adaptation
and mitigation actions in developing countries
is from measures to address emissions from
international aviation and shipping.”
International aviation
and shipping are large and fast-growing
sources of emissions with no overall regulatory
framework to control them, according to
Financing from International Aviation and
Shipping: Turning an Emissions Problem into
a Revenue Opportunity.
“Policies to control
them could pay a double dividend – reducing
emissions but also unlocking major flows
of climate finance.”
