Before I get into this important topic, please read my article on cancer dedicated to someone special to me, each view constitutes a larger donation to cancer research. http://planetsave.com/blog/2009/07/27/help-me-fight-cancer/
Problem
Almost one half of non-human primates are at risk of extinction, and none more so than gorillas. Gorillas are disappearing at an alarming rate, mostly a victim of their surroundings. Political unrest, wars, poachers, miners, and loggers all converging in a perfect storm of brutality and human depravity, killing one of our closest living relatives. Gorilla’s DNA is 98-99% an exact match for human DNA, just barely trailing our closest living relatives (genus Pan, chimpanzees and bonobos). Unfortunately for the gorillas, they occupy a region rich in tin, diamonds, gold and coltan (a rare mineral used to create capacitors for cellphones, games consoles and laptops).
There are actually 2 different species of gorillas, and up to 6 different sub-species, although there is some debate about lumping or splitting the phylogeny. It makes little difference as all species of gorillas are endangered. All live in tropical or sub tropical areas of Africa. Gorillas are highly intelligent. Famously, the gorilla Koko was taught American Sign Language. She understands over 2,000 words and carries on conversations. Koko also cares for several cats, one of the few non-humans to have pets.
UN’s Solution to the Problem
At the dawn of this year, the United Nations declared 2009 “The Year of The Gorilla.” With good reason, despite conservation efforts, gorilla populations continue to plummet. If all of the warring, political unrest, poaching, logging, and destroying of habitat were not enough of a threat, there has been a recent outbreak of Ebola Virus which has devastated gorilla populations. Ebola has an even higher mortality rate in gorillas than it does in humans.
The UN’s plan is to link gorilla conservation with reducing global poverty by 2015. The logic is to eliminate people’s need to chop down forest or hunt for bushmeat by eliminating poverty. The plan provides for the creation of parks to provide jobs and, if you can turn gorillas into tourist attractions, then enough money will flow in to convince even the poorest African governments to protect gorillas.
Why Many Say the UN’s Plan is a Mistake
It has all the check marks of a well rounded plan. Help humans? Check. Help gorillas? Check. Eliminate poverty? Check. However, many gorilla experts are not buying what the UN is selling. They argue that by the time all of these parks are set up, poverty eliminated, local governments convinced to protect gorillas, it will be too late. The critics believe that gorillas are disappearing too quickly for this plan to work, and if poaching isn’t stopped, there won’t be any gorillas to provide jobs or attract tourist dollars. Plus with the political unrest in many areas of Africa, tourist parks cannot be run efficiently enough to protect the gorillas.
“If you try to make saving gorillas a development issue, then you will fail.” – Peter Walsh, expert on Gorilla Distribution.
Many see the UN’s plan as too long term. The problem for many conservationists is that they believe that there will not be a long term for gorillas if urgent action is not taken now. They argue that the only thing that money should be spent on at the moment is putting an end to hunting, which kills thousands of gorillas every year, and preventing outbreaks of Ebola.
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I think this animals have a right to protected since they are few and should be preserved for the future generations to be observing and have a story to tell. It is unfare to treate this animals as they are being treated.World governing body should look into ways of saving this creatures.
I agree, it would be terrible if future generations grew up without wild gorillas.
They have come up with a plan. We are so on the brink of loosing gorillas, that it is just very unsure if this plan will work. It is a sad state of affairs.
This is a good article which brings up the harsh realities of gorilla conservation. There are other ways to help as well. I along with other artists and photographers have donated artwork to raise money for gorillas. All of the art work can be purchased from the year of the gorilla website and proceeds go directly to gorilla conservation.
Here is the link:
http://yog2009.org/index.php?view=article&catid=54%3Aprints&id=152%3Adavederrick&option=com_content&Itemid=69
David… Thanks for the link. I’ll check it out and try to write an article about it this week to raise awareness.