A report released Wednesday from the World Conservation Union (IUCN) predicts an 80% population decline of the most common type of gorilla, the Western Gorilla, from 1980 levels by 2046. The 2007 Red List of Threatened Species finds "commercial hunting and outbreaks of the Ebola virus have virtually extirpated gorillas from a great deal of otherwise intact forest" where they were previously thought to thrive.

"What’s immediately needed if we are to halt the decimation of the western gorilla is nothing short of a massive global response," said Richard Parnell, of the Wildlife Conservation Society. This author agrees. The following list is a response to the immediate need for action to prevent the extinction of gorillas and other threatened primate species—our closest relatives on Earth.

Here are seven unusual ways to prevent the extinction of gorillas. These approaches are also designed to introduce you to some of the complex causes and issues surrounding the threat that gorillas face from our species. This blog benefits from an exceptionally intelligent and motivated readership; if you have other ideas, please contribute them by posting comments below this article.

1. Don’t Buy Bushmeat!

If you know someone who lives in or travels to Africa, make sure he or she knows not to buy bushmeat. Bushmeat is a term for meat from any wild animal killed by hunters and sold as food. It’s popular in many African restaurants and markets. While not all bushmeat is illegally poached, buying bushmeat supports a demand for any and all forms of bushmeat. This drives poachers to shoot elephants, gorillas, chimpanzees and other primates, forest antelopes, and other animals in the hopes that they can sell the meat for commercial profit. As the IUCN’s report concludes, supporting the bushmeat trade makes a person directly responsible for the endangerment of Western Gorillas, among other primates.

Douglas Williamson, a wildlife expert at the U.N. further explains, "along with habitat loss, the commercial bushmeat trade is probably the biggest threat to wildlife in Africa."

2. Do Buy Other African Goods

The problem of poaching is enflamed by the desire of impoverished people to make money quickly. Let’s face it: entering a national park patrolled by armed guards to illegally poach and butcher endangered animals probably isn’t anybody’s ideal of making a living. Supporting businesses, local crafts, and economic development through commerce helps sustain local populations. This decreases the incentives to illegally hunt primates.

If you can find a good microinvesting organization that offers investment opportunities in African countries, please post it in the discussion below. Kiva.org is one valuable microinvesting organization, but selections for investment in Africa are slim to none. (Editor’s note: GO’s sister site Planetsave raises funds for Kiva.org.)

"We need money," says Democratic Republic of the Congo environment minister Henri Dojombo. "It is poverty in the first place that leads to poaching."

3. Have a ‘Save Gorillas’ Fundraiser Movie Night

Gather friends, family, neighbors, and community members in a park or at your home for a showing of your favorite gorilla movie. Watch Mountain Gorilla, Gorillas In The Mist, or even King Kong. Have everyone there donate $10+ (the price of going to the movies), and donate the pooled money to a conservation organization that works to protect gorillas. For example, you could adopt a gorilla with the World Wildlife Fund, the African Wildlife Fund, or the Diane Fossey Fund.

Come up with other fun ways to raise money to adopt a gorilla. You can do it with your school classroom, as a gift for someone, or even on your own, or as a gift to yourself.

4. Volunteer in Africa

Yup, that’s right. Travelers in Africa rarely have anything but praise for the amazing people they meet and the incredible land they come to understand better. It’s literally the chance of a lifetime, and most people don’t realize how easy it is.

To volunteer in ways that will benefit Western Gorillas, you’ll want to be in Angola, Cameroon, The Central African Republic, The Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, or Nigeria.

Look for programs and opportunities online, including at the following websites:

• Volunteer Abroad
• The Peace Corps
• World Volunteer Web: Countries
• Universal Giving: International Volunteer Opportunities
• Volunteer for Prosperity: Africa

You can also try contacting other organizations, like the Cameroon Environmental Watch (to translate emails into or from French, a good online resource is Altavista’s Babelfish), to learn how you can help.

5. Donate to Heifer International

Send cows to help gorillas? More or less… the folks at Heifer International have programs in Cameroon, which is home to the Western Gorilla. Donations help the organization train local farmers in better, more sustainable farming methods. The domestic animals they provide empower local people with a source of income and food, like milk and eggs. For gorilla populations to be saved from the relentless assaults from illegal hunting, local human populations must be given a viable method of survival that allows them to live without depending on poaching as a source of income. Donating to Heifer International helps to accomplish this feat. You can read more on their website.

It’s true that encroaching farmland also threatens to gorilla populations through deforestation and habitat destruction. However, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society, "the most immediate threat to western gorillas is not habitat destruction as previously believed, but poaching and lack of law enforcement." This assertion is echoed in Wednesday’s IUCN report. Therefore, at least at the moment, helping local people with any form of industry which stems the perceived need to massacre gorillas for income is an important step in the race to prevent the extinction of gorillas.

6. Push Timber Companies to Follow the Law

The bushmeat trade is made possible in part by a lack of oversight and enforcement of the law in the timber industry. European and African loggers penetrate Central African forests, which are home to the remaining gorilla populations. The logging industry in Africa still lacks regulation from the companies who purchase the lumber. Loggers therefore are often tempted to make extra money by poaching adult gorillas and chimpanzees to sell on the commercial bushmeat market, and by capturing the young for sale as exotic pets.

European timber companies, like Belgian Decolvenaere, buy tropical lumber from African forests. Many African timber companies are members of the InterAfrican Forest Industries Association (IFIA), as well as the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO). While both of these organizations recognize the severity of the bushmeat problem and its ties to logging, they need average citizens to contact them by the thousands to encourage greater regulation and monitoring of loggers. Always be polite and courteous when contacting companies and organizations with important issues such as these.

You can contact the Japan-based ITTO by email at itto@itto.or.jp, by phone at 81-45-223-1110, by fax at +81-45-223-1111, or by mail at

International Tropical Timber Organization
International Organizations Center, 5th Floor
Pacifico-Yokohama 1-1-1, Minato-Mirai,
Nishi-ku, Yokohama, 220-0012 Japan

You can contact the France-based IFIA by email at ifia@wanadoo.fr, by phone at 33 1 43 42 42 00, by fax at 33 1 43 42 55 22, or by mail at

InterAfrican Forest Industries Association (IFIA)
6, avenue de Saint Mandé
75012 Paris, France

You can contact Decolvenaere logging company through their web site’s contact form. According to Greenpeace, "despite several requests, the Belgian importer Decolvenaere has shown no interest at all to purchase FSC-certified timber." You can contact them and ask them to adhere to Forest Steward Council (FSC) guidelines on sustainable forestry. Also, ask that they better monitor logging operations to ensure that loggers do not poach, and that they not purchase lumber from third parties whose practices they cannot vouch for.

7. Spread the Word!

Make sure to tell a friend—or 500!—about the need to take immediate action to protect gorillas from impending extinction. Have them contribute ideas about ways to take action, raise funds together to donate to conservation organizations that work to protect gorillas, or simply spread information about gorillas, their lifestyles, their habitat, and their current plight for survival.

 

References on Bushmeat:

Bushmeat Crisis Task Force | bushmeat.org

The Bushmeat Project | bushmeat.net

Bushmeat–A Resource at Risk | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Bushmeat | The Humane Society of the United States

The Growing Problem of Bushmeat Consumption | Jeffry M. Burnam, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Environment; Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs

‘Save Our Apes’ DRC Funding Plea | Africa from Allbusiness.com

 

References on African Logging:

Homepage | International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO)

English Homepage | InterAfrican Forest Industries Association (IFIA)

Africa Resources | Greenpeace

Company Homepage | Decolvenaere

What is Certification? | The Forest Stewardship Council (FSA)

 

References on Gorillas:

Homepage | The World Conservation Union (IUCN)

2007 Redlist of Threatened Species | IUCN

Gorillas Now ‘Critically Endangered’ | Discovery Channel News

Want to Save Gorillas? Enforce Laws | Wildlife Conservation Society

 

Resources on Volunteering and Donating:

Home | Volunteer Abroad

Home | Peace Corps

Country List | World Volunteer Web

Find A Vounteer Opportunity | International Volunteer Opportunities

Global Map, Africa | Volunteers For Prosperity

Home | Heifer International

Home | Kiva.org

Gorillas | World Wildlife Fund

Adopt A Gorilla | African Wildlife Society

Adopt A Gorilla… Save A Species | The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International

 

Photo Source:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/arro08/131759180/