The mountain gorilla, a subspecies of the eastern gorilla, is a population that faces a very real possibility of going extinct in the same decade it was discovered. According to the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF), there are 880 mountain gorillas on Earth today. These magnificent creatures share approximately 98.3 percent of human DNA, making them our third closest primate-relatives, behind chimpanzees and bonobos.
The African Wildlife Foundation says that there are currently only two groups of mountain gorillas: the Bwindi population and the Virunga population. Both groups live within two regions of Africa and four conservations. The Bwindi population, consisting of 400 mountain gorillas according to WWF, resides in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda. The Virunga population, which is 480 mountain gorillas strong according to WWF, is spread out among three conservation sites along the Virungas mountain region, including: Mgahinga Gorilla National Park (Uganda), Volcanoes National Park (Rwanda) and Virunga National Park (Democratic Republic of Congo), which alone contains 200 gorillas.
Though the entire mountain gorilla species is considered critically endangered by IUCN’s Red List, the gorillas facing perhaps the largest threat are those located in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Since 1996 the Congo has been in the midst of a civil war against rebel groups from their own country. Despite a peace agreement with the DRC government signed by Mouvement du 23 Mars (M23), the most dangerous and active rebel group, there is still ongoing violence in the Congo. Unfortunately, Africa’s mountain gorillas have been caught in middle, suffering alongside thousands of Congolese people. According to IUCN, mountain gorillas could experience a 25 percent reduction in the next 20 years due to the continuous political instability in the DRC.
A high risk of disease transmitted by the Congolese people living in the park or illegal invaders, the threat of poachers and deforestation are all factors that also contribute to the decreasing mountain gorilla population. According to an article by CNN reporters Arwa Damon and Brent Sails, Innocent Mburanumwe, Virunga National Park’s southern sector head, states that the illegal exploitation of natural resources (such as oil) in the DRC is a main cause of the ongoing war, which continues to take land and life away from the gorillas.
Perhaps the greatest opportunities for environmental destruction and resource exploitation were made possible in 2010 when the DRC government finalized the Block V Exploration License with British oil company SOCO International. In 2013 SOCO conducted bathymetric and seismic testing in Block V, which is located halfway within Virunga National Park. Throughout the testing, thousands of environmental protesters were gathering, demanding the UNESCO World Heritage site not be interfered with. The world’s leading conservationist groups fear that if the DRC government allows oil companies to test Virunga’s natural resources and extract oil, the park, the Congolese people and the mountain gorillas could face grave consequences. Oil exploitation in the park could result in “disruptive seismic tests, forest clearing, deep underground drilling, or the laying of vulnerable oil pipelines,” according to WWF. The pro-wildlife organization also states that pollution is also a consequence that the DRC government should fear, as an oil spill into Lake Edward (where much of SOCO’s testing was conducted) would be detrimental to the mountain gorillas, other species and the 50,000 Congolese people who rely on the lake for their food or jobs related to fishing. The condition of the park, its natural resources and the health of the mountain gorillas are not the only things that will be put at risk of oil exploitation continues-- the physical safety of the mountain gorillas should also be a major concern for DRC government officials, the Congolese people and responsible oil companies. With more people entering the park, it will be harder for park managers and security to monitor the actions of visitors. This could create a real possibility for poachers enter the grounds and kill the gorillas for their meat, fur, hands, feet and heads, which are often used as trophies or sold illegally.
Recently, SOCO posted to its website that they have not renewed their license to dig and/ or test in Virunga National Park. Unfortunately, on Nov. 6 the DRC government announced that the tests run by the British oil company came back as “positive” for oil, according to AFP. WWF has stated in an article that now Uganda has initiated “an open and competitive bidding process for an oil exploration license in its Ngaji block, which directly borders Virunga and also overlaps Lake Edward,” which is the same lake that SOCO conducted tests on in 2013. In the article it explains that Africa has been warned “not to take any deliberate measures which might damage directly or indirectly the cultural and natural heritage,” as both Uganda and DRC are parties belonging to the World Heritage Convention. The African governments believe that by allowing European oil companies to drill for oil, they may be able to lift their country out of poverty. However, conservationists believe that by granting companies like SOCO licenses to drill, mass extinction among the mountain gorillas will occur.
WWF reports that though the subspecies’ numbers have dramatically declined in the 100 years since the mountain gorilla was discovered, their population is now steadily rising. Thanks to the dedication of conservationist groups, the local people of the Congo, the 140 Virunga rangers who gave their lives in attempts to protect the gorillas from poachers and illegal traders in the last decade and the rangers still risking their lives to protect them, mountain gorillas are defying the odds. Now Howard Buffet, CEO and chairman of the Howard G. Buffet foundation is helping the African people and mountain gorillas by ensuring that oil exploitation becomes a thing of the past. His company produced an Oscar-nominated Netflix movie about the dangers of oil exploration in Verunga National Park and is now in the process of building a hydropower plant in Matebe (eastern Congo) as part of the Virunga Alliance initiative. Virunga National Park’s website explains that this “renewable energy program aims to install more than 100mW of electricity by the end of the decade in a region that is one of the most densely populated yet least electrified in Africa.” According to Reuters, Buffet says the plant will also help “keep people from cutting the trees down for charcoal in the forests,” which could ultimately save the last of the world’s mountain gorillas and their habitat. It is a dangerous plan, as there is still ongoing war in the Congo and the hydro-power plant could bring about even more, but the possibility of helping hundreds of thousands of people in one of the world’s most upset regions and saving the lives of 880 mountain gorillas makes it worth the risk.
Devon Stephen
Editor-in-Chief of Media
The African Wildlife Foundation says that there are currently only two groups of mountain gorillas: the Bwindi population and the Virunga population. Both groups live within two regions of Africa and four conservations. The Bwindi population, consisting of 400 mountain gorillas according to WWF, resides in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda. The Virunga population, which is 480 mountain gorillas strong according to WWF, is spread out among three conservation sites along the Virungas mountain region, including: Mgahinga Gorilla National Park (Uganda), Volcanoes National Park (Rwanda) and Virunga National Park (Democratic Republic of Congo), which alone contains 200 gorillas.
Though the entire mountain gorilla species is considered critically endangered by IUCN’s Red List, the gorillas facing perhaps the largest threat are those located in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Since 1996 the Congo has been in the midst of a civil war against rebel groups from their own country. Despite a peace agreement with the DRC government signed by Mouvement du 23 Mars (M23), the most dangerous and active rebel group, there is still ongoing violence in the Congo. Unfortunately, Africa’s mountain gorillas have been caught in middle, suffering alongside thousands of Congolese people. According to IUCN, mountain gorillas could experience a 25 percent reduction in the next 20 years due to the continuous political instability in the DRC.
A high risk of disease transmitted by the Congolese people living in the park or illegal invaders, the threat of poachers and deforestation are all factors that also contribute to the decreasing mountain gorilla population. According to an article by CNN reporters Arwa Damon and Brent Sails, Innocent Mburanumwe, Virunga National Park’s southern sector head, states that the illegal exploitation of natural resources (such as oil) in the DRC is a main cause of the ongoing war, which continues to take land and life away from the gorillas.
Perhaps the greatest opportunities for environmental destruction and resource exploitation were made possible in 2010 when the DRC government finalized the Block V Exploration License with British oil company SOCO International. In 2013 SOCO conducted bathymetric and seismic testing in Block V, which is located halfway within Virunga National Park. Throughout the testing, thousands of environmental protesters were gathering, demanding the UNESCO World Heritage site not be interfered with. The world’s leading conservationist groups fear that if the DRC government allows oil companies to test Virunga’s natural resources and extract oil, the park, the Congolese people and the mountain gorillas could face grave consequences. Oil exploitation in the park could result in “disruptive seismic tests, forest clearing, deep underground drilling, or the laying of vulnerable oil pipelines,” according to WWF. The pro-wildlife organization also states that pollution is also a consequence that the DRC government should fear, as an oil spill into Lake Edward (where much of SOCO’s testing was conducted) would be detrimental to the mountain gorillas, other species and the 50,000 Congolese people who rely on the lake for their food or jobs related to fishing. The condition of the park, its natural resources and the health of the mountain gorillas are not the only things that will be put at risk of oil exploitation continues-- the physical safety of the mountain gorillas should also be a major concern for DRC government officials, the Congolese people and responsible oil companies. With more people entering the park, it will be harder for park managers and security to monitor the actions of visitors. This could create a real possibility for poachers enter the grounds and kill the gorillas for their meat, fur, hands, feet and heads, which are often used as trophies or sold illegally.
Recently, SOCO posted to its website that they have not renewed their license to dig and/ or test in Virunga National Park. Unfortunately, on Nov. 6 the DRC government announced that the tests run by the British oil company came back as “positive” for oil, according to AFP. WWF has stated in an article that now Uganda has initiated “an open and competitive bidding process for an oil exploration license in its Ngaji block, which directly borders Virunga and also overlaps Lake Edward,” which is the same lake that SOCO conducted tests on in 2013. In the article it explains that Africa has been warned “not to take any deliberate measures which might damage directly or indirectly the cultural and natural heritage,” as both Uganda and DRC are parties belonging to the World Heritage Convention. The African governments believe that by allowing European oil companies to drill for oil, they may be able to lift their country out of poverty. However, conservationists believe that by granting companies like SOCO licenses to drill, mass extinction among the mountain gorillas will occur.
WWF reports that though the subspecies’ numbers have dramatically declined in the 100 years since the mountain gorilla was discovered, their population is now steadily rising. Thanks to the dedication of conservationist groups, the local people of the Congo, the 140 Virunga rangers who gave their lives in attempts to protect the gorillas from poachers and illegal traders in the last decade and the rangers still risking their lives to protect them, mountain gorillas are defying the odds. Now Howard Buffet, CEO and chairman of the Howard G. Buffet foundation is helping the African people and mountain gorillas by ensuring that oil exploitation becomes a thing of the past. His company produced an Oscar-nominated Netflix movie about the dangers of oil exploration in Verunga National Park and is now in the process of building a hydropower plant in Matebe (eastern Congo) as part of the Virunga Alliance initiative. Virunga National Park’s website explains that this “renewable energy program aims to install more than 100mW of electricity by the end of the decade in a region that is one of the most densely populated yet least electrified in Africa.” According to Reuters, Buffet says the plant will also help “keep people from cutting the trees down for charcoal in the forests,” which could ultimately save the last of the world’s mountain gorillas and their habitat. It is a dangerous plan, as there is still ongoing war in the Congo and the hydro-power plant could bring about even more, but the possibility of helping hundreds of thousands of people in one of the world’s most upset regions and saving the lives of 880 mountain gorillas makes it worth the risk.
Devon Stephen
Editor-in-Chief of Media