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[Josh Greenman <joshg1973 AT yahoo.com>]

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-03/ci-elg032604.php

Eastern lowland gorilla population plummets 70 percent since 1994

New multi-million dollar investment gives 5,000 remaining gorillas new 
lease on life

 March 30, 2004 (Congo/Washington, DC) – The world population of the 
Endangered eastern lowland gorilla (Gorilla beringei graueri), found 
almost exclusively in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has 
plummeted by more than 70 percent in the past decade. Scientists 
estimate that fewer than 5,000 individuals remain, down sharply from 
17,000 in 1994.

 But a new multi-million dollar investment to save the gorilla is 
expected to help prevent the species' slide into extinction. 
Conservation International (CI), as well as its Global Conservation 
Fund (GCF), is providing a three-year, multi-million dollar grant to 
The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International (DFGFI) to strengthen its 
program in the region, helping the gorillas and other animals and 
plants found in their habitat.

 "The staggering and almost immediate disappearance of the eastern 
lowland gorilla underscores the alarming decline of an entire 
ecosystem," said Juan Carlos Bonilla, senior director for Central 
Africa at Conservation International. "But this joint effort – which 
includes everyone from tribal chiefs to non-governmental organizations 
and national governments – represents an unprecedented commitment to 
preserve the region."

 The investment will increase the protection of more than 3 million 
hectares in the region, which contains roughly 97 percent of the 
distribution and population of the eastern lowland gorilla. The region, 
known as the Maiko Tayna Kahuzi-Biega Landscape, contains a high degree 
of biological richness and species endemism. Although a protected area 
since 1938, Maiko National Park has been widely recognized as an 
ineffective "paper park" with no real protection.

 Other species that call the area home, such as the chimpanzee, forest 
elephant, Nile crocodile, Congo peacock, Congo bay owl, okapi, and 
leopard, are also experiencing severe declines. The region is under 
severe threat from years of war, over-hunting, mining, and pressures 
from increasing human populations.

 "We are now beginning to realize that the eastern lowland gorillas are 
not only an important charismatic species that can enhance conservation 
awareness for all the floral and faunal species in its habitat," said 
Patrick Mehlman, Ph.D., DFGFI's director of Africa programs. "These 
gorillas also appear to be a critical biological indicator species, 
with their presence indicating healthy forest that contains surviving 
populations of other endangered fauna, like the forest elephant."

 Conservation International is a key partner in the Congo Basin Forest 
Partnership (CBFP), which funds the preservation of 11 
biologically-rich landscapes in six Congo Basin nations, including the 
DRC. CBFP funding is distributed through the United States Agency for 
International Development's (USAID) Central African Regional Program 
for the Environment (CARPE). With funding from a CARPE grant, CI 
partnered with DFGFI to implement field conservation in the landscape. 
DFGFI will receive $585,000 from that funding, as well as $393,000 from 
CI's Global Conservation Fund (GCF). Similar levels of funding are 
expected for the next two years.

 Conservation International's DRC office is designing a biodiversity 
conservation corridor for the entire region, where other CARPE partners 
World Wide Fund for Nature and Wildlife Conservation Society will also 
conduct conservation efforts.

 The combined efforts of DFGFI and CI, with their Congolese partners 
ICCN (Institut Congolais pour la Protection de la Nature) and community 
groups will provide protection and scientific monitoring for fauna and 
flora, conservation education for local people, and capacity building 
for Congolese Institutions, so that sustainable and long-term 
conservation efforts can be put in place to preserve the rich 
biodiversity and numerous endangered species found in these Afromontane 
and Congo Basin forests.