Saving the Great Apes, Fighting Global Warming

Preserving forests in Africa can help fight global warming (because of the carbon sequestration role of forests), can help the local African economy and can help save Great Ape species (our closest relatives) from extinction within the next 10 years.

This is actually an issue I have been working on for more than 6 years. It was 6 years ago that I realized how close to extinction the Mountain Gorillas had come. At the time there were some 650 known alive in the wild. That's it. That is so dangerously tiny a population that it is on the border of not being genetically viable. Since then there has been an improvement (there are now about 700 Mountain Gorillas alive in the wild.) But the situation has also gotten even more dire since the civil war in the Congo is threatening the Virunga, the single national park where Mountain Gorillas live, and in the past year, 10 gorillas have been killed...really murdered. That is more than 1% of their population killed in one year.

And today, the Virunga National Park has been overrun by the Congolese rebels. The army is counter attacking, but in essence the Congolese civil war now has completely engulfed the Mountain Gorillas. This is happening right now. Today. As you read this.

Chimps and Bonobos are are closest relatives, being about 98-99% identical to us genetically. That means that looking at the exact order of nucleotides in any given Chimp and you, 98%+ of those nucleotides will be exactly the same. The difference is so close compared with some animals considered branches of the same species (e.g. dogs and wolves), that technically speaking, Chimps, Bonobos and humans really should be lumped together in the same genus. Humans are merely a third chimpanzee, as outlined very effectively by Jared Diamond in his book of that name.

Next to Chimps and Bonobos, our closest relatives are the gorillas. There are two species of gorillas: lowland and mountain gorillas. Of all these great ape species, the Bonobos and Mountain Gorillas are the most endangered. Until recently there were no efforts at all to protect the Bonobos. There are more of them, but efforts to protect them have only begun within the past couple of years (thanks to the African Wildlife Fund).

As a molecular biologist, I am very familiar with the field of genetics. It is in this context that I first became interested in the plight of the Great Apes when I learned that humans differ from Chimps and Bonobos by only 1.6% of our DNA.

What does this mean? To me this means that we have a duty to protect the Great Apes since they are so closely related to us. If we kill them off, then we cannot go back. They are the last of our evolutionary relatives and to lose them is to lose our past. I do not mean this just metaphorically, although that is also a powerful argument. I mean it scientifically as well. To a scientist, studying the Great Apes gives us a chance to study what early forms of humans were like. How did we evolve? What were early human societies like? Why was our own branch of evolution so successful while the Neanderthals and Autralopithecines were not? All these questions can be answered today only through the study of the Great Apes.

There is also a very practical reason to try and protect the wild populations of Great Apes. AIDS research has been helped by the discovery of the wild ape and monkey populations that seem to be the origins of the two forms of HIV. Scientists have been able to pinpoint the closest relatives of HIV1 and HIV2 in specific wild primate populations. Studying these wild populations allows us to study how these primates have evolved to deal with the disease, which isn’t fatal in these primates. It can also teach us how the virus evolved to jump species into humans. If we lose these wild primate populations, we lose a valuable tool in our search for ways to deal with AIDS.

Both Bonobos and Mountain Gorillas exist pretty much exclusively in the very unstable nation of the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire). Civil war, habitat destruction, demand for charcoal for cooking and poaching threatens both species. The main effort of those working to protect these species is to patrol the parks where they live to keep out rebel fighters, poachers and illegal timber harvesting.

I have been following the dynamics of the Mountain Gorilla population for awhile now. When I first became aware of the situation, there had been a sharp decline in the gorilla population. This was followed by about a 17% increase. Then this year there has been another sharp decrease.

And today the biggest recent threat has occurred: the civil war in the Congo has engulfed the entire habitat of the Mountain Gorilla. This is how the situation has been unfolding over the past few days, as reported from the scene:

October 6th:

Fighting is going on at Bikenge between the army and the rebels. It has been going on all day.

I can also report that the Rangers who fled the sector yesterday are still at Rumangabo. The information they had collected regarding the gorillas that they had been tracking was taken from them by the rebels. This would have been useful to us for our records which we keep diligently...

Thank you for all your encouragement and support. Please lobby. I do not know much about lobbying outside of my country and how you put pressure, but anything you can do to help us get back into the park and protect the animals will be much appreciated. Thank you to you all.

October 7th:

Director Mushenzi just called me from Rumangabo. I am in Goma. The rebels have re-taken the entire Mikeno Sector (see map in previous post). In other words the Gorilla Sector is now totally under rebel control and all the Mountain Gorillas of DR Congo are unprotected and unmonitored.

The rebels have actually made progress west of the sector to the main road that goes from Goma to Rumangabo to Rutshuru - to a place called Rugari. So Rumangabo may potentially get cut off from Goma. This of course is where many Rangers are based, and where all the Rangers who have been forced to flee their patrol posts are camping out.

The Director is assessing the situation and I will update you as soon as I hear anything else.

I don’t know if there is any reporting about this on the internet. It has literally just all happened.

Samantha

Update at 11am DR Congo time: Director Mushenzi has just told me they can hear heavy shelling at Bukima from where they are at Rumangabo and that he and the Rangers have taken the decision to evacuate all valuable equipment, like GPS’, binoculars, V-sat etc. to Goma. Samantha

Update at 18h30 DR Congo time: Norbert and his rangers have managed to evacuate valuable equipment from Rumangabo. It got distributed between the NGOs that have storage space. I got GPS’, sleeping bags, a generator, a couple of printers and some other boxes. I am wondering who got the satellite dish.

October 8th (as I write this):

I have just spoken to Rangers at Rumangabo. This is the situation. At this precise moment they cannot hear shelling or gunfire in the Gorilla Sector, but the army are pushing back the rebels and strengthening their position and fighting is expected to start again shortly. The army has managed to retake the patrol post of Bukima.

Rangers are worried about potential attacks by rebels on the road north of Rumangabo, as this is what they have heard may happen. There are many military personnel at the army base near Rumangabo and they are getting supplies from Goma.

This is all I can tell you without compromising security.

No news obviously about Mountain Gorillas. I will update you later on in the day.

Civil war, poachers, habitat destruction, demand for charcoal. There are four very powerful forces, difficult to control, that are driving Mountain Gorillas to extinction in the next 5-10 years. This is a situation that cannot be solved by simply creating a park and figuring all is well. Human and Gorilla needs are intertwined in a way that currently demands the extinciton of the Gorilla. The best efforts towards saving the Gorilla recognizes that the needs of the human population and the Gorilla population must be balanced in a way that allows the survival and growth of the Gorilla population.

The number one way this is done is to create parks that a.) protect the wildlife, b.) bring in tourist dollars, c.) allows scientific studies of the wildlife, and d.) creates jobs for the local population. A coalition of groups are working on just this to protect the Bonobos and Mountain Gorillas.

A primary way this is done is to hire, train and equip wildlife protection patrols from the local population. This integrates the local population into the conservation efforts. These patrols are among the most effective ways to protect wildlife in Africa.

Here is a direct effort to support patrols in the Virunga park that protects the Mountain Gorillas.

Here is a way of helping the Virunga patrols through the excellent African Wildlife Foundation (considered one of the most efficient and effective charities around).

And here is a way of supporting patrols in the Congo Heartland where the Bonobos live, also through the African Wildlife Foundation. (I just donated to this effort last week)

African Wildlife Foundation is also working directly to empower people around the parks they manage to better integrate conservation into the local economy. This is a critical part of their efforts and is part of why AWF is one of the most effective organizations helping wildlife in Africa. You can help this effort by making a general donation to the African Wildlife Federation.

Poaching is another major threat to much of African wildlife, including the Gorilla. Bushmeat, the term for poached meat, sometimes goes to feed local populations, including rebel groups in remote areas, refugees fleeing instability and villages whose economies are ruined by civil war. But it also goes to feed the desire of wealthy foreigners who just want a thrill. There are an increasing number of groups focusing on the Bushmeat trade. The Bushmeat Crisis Taskforce focuses on commercial hunting of wildlife for sale as meat. And the Bushmeat Project focuses on the plight of the Great Apes, including Mountain Gorillas, also focusing on making the protection of Great Apes part of helping the local economy.

A recent article on BBC written by Richard Leakey (yes...THE Richard Leakey) highlights a less recognized threat to African wildlife, including Mountain Gorillas: the increasing demand for wood for charcoal to feed cooking fires. This is such a basic need in Africa that it is often overlooked as something that needs to be changed to protect the environment...AND to protect women's health which is often damaged by the soot from burning charcoal. As to what degree the demand for charcoal (which is highest in urban areas, not right near wildlife reserves) is a direct threat to Mountain Gorillas is debated. Some think the demand is somewhat distant from the Virunga and other parks, and so is not a direct threat. But there are factors that make me thing Richard Leakey has a point. First off, the demands of rebel groups and refugees who live closer to the parks must be high and often increasing. Furthermore, I believe things like this are regional issues, not just local. Demand for wood for charcoal producing will be met even if the wood is harvested illegally at a distance...even across borders in areas where rebels and refugees frequently cross borders. So I have recently added a regional (meaning Congo, Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda...) effort to reduce the demand for charcoal to my efforts to preserve the Mountain Gorillas and Bonobos. And this effort dovetails with two other efforts of mine: fighting global warming (which means protecting forests) and my microlending efforts through Kiva, which initially focused on Kenya and Uganda. Although Kiva has now expanded to make loans globally, about a third of my loans have been in Kenya and Uganda, right next door to the area where Great Apes live. Again, thinking regionally, demand for charcoal in Kenya and Uganda is likely to impact forests further away in Rwanda and the Congo.

I have tried finding a variety of efforts to reduce demand for charcoal. There seem to be three main strategies. 1.) develop alternatives for producing charcoal, 2.) help build more efficient ovens and stoves for burning charcoal (most of these efforts seem to be elsewhere in the world), and 3.) providing an alternative technology altogether: solar ovens.

I found two companies working to find alternative means for producing charcoal. One is based in Uganda (right next to the area of the Congo where Virunga is located) and another based in Kenya with a pilot project in Rwanda (which is ALSO right next to Virunga). From a local perspective, neither company is directly linked to the plight of the Mountain Gorillas. But from a regional perspective, which I prefer, both are involved in the general economic trends that need to shift for the survival of the Gorilla to be economically viable.

The Briquetting Enterprise Development Pilot Project is based in Uganda and combines the efforts of women's rights and alternative energy organizations. This project turns waste materials into briquettes for cooking. This creates an alternate source of fuel. You can go here to read more about this effort and how it helps displaced women in the Namatala slum in the small town of Mbale in eastern Uganda.

The other company that is making alternative briquettes is Chardust, based in Kenya but starting a pilot project in Rwanda. This company, for very practical reasons, focuses on urban demand for fuel. Chardust uses the dust from charcoal, a major waste product that pollutes urban areas in Africa, can be used to make briquettes. The briquettes burn up to three hours with no smoke or smell unlike the burning of charcoal. This helps clean up the city AND produces an alternative fuel source. This organization sells nearly 8 tons of briquettes made from waste materials a day to Nairobi area neighborhoods and businesses. This reduces the demand on forests for wood to produce briquettes. This company tells me that they are available...

as consultants to provide the know-how and training for others to set up similar operations to our own, or to keep an eye on external investments in local industry. We've been in the commercial briquetting business for nearly a decade and my partners (Elsen Karstad and John Njuguna) also run a poultry farm, trout farm, restaurant, animals feeds business and solar LED lighting start-up. If the opportunity to access technical backstopping (for briquetting) or oversight of local investments would be helpful to you or your contacts, do let us know.

I have yet to find an organization that helps build more efficient stoves and ovens for burning charcoal in East Africa. I have donated to help build a charcoal oven in Guatemala that uses 70% less fuel than traditional ovens, saving more than a ton of carbon from entering the atmosphere a year. But I have not seen a similar effort in East Africa. If anyone is aware of such an effort, please let me know.

Finally, there are some efforts spreading Solar Oven technology in Africa. Solar ovens can greatly reduce (not eliminate) the need for charcoal in a community. The Solar Energy Society of Central Africa, a National Section branch affiliated with the ISES (International Solar Energy Society) is working on developing a solar cooker project to distribute solar cookers to the areas around the Mountain Gorilla habitats, but have not yet been able to get the needed funding yet. This organization already does great work spreading solar technology in Africa, including Rwanda and Congo, and has partnered with organizations like the Global Village Energy Project, the Congolese Institute for Wildlife and Nature Conservation, and has attracted attention from the Dian Fossey Gorilla Conservation Programme. They are a certified nonprofit. If anyone can give suggestions on helping, or wants to wire money directly to them, I have their information. I can also put you directly in contact with them. This could be one of the best things you can do for African forests AND local African economies. So if you have any contacts or ways of helping them raise funds and develop solar technologies, please let me know and I can put you in touch with them.

If you are a member of the Rotary Club, or know of anyone who is or want to contact the Rotary Club in your area, there is another way to help distribute solar cookers in Africa (as well as elsewhere in the world). The Rotary Club has partnered with Sun Ovens International to spread solar oven technology. This has been one of the major efforts for distributing this technology and thus reduce the pressure on forests for fuel. Work with your local Rotary Club to expand these efforts. You can also contact the Temple Solar Project, part of this partnership, to help spread solar technology.

Please help these efforts and help spread the word. Mountain Gorillas and Bonobos can't wait. And, in many ways, neither can the people of Africa who need better alternatives to civil war, deforestation and charcoal that poisons women's lungs.

For more updates on the civil war taking place in the Congo, please see the comments in this diary.