Stop this! Organisations call for a halt to DRC-China wildlife bilateral move

By Virunga Community Programs

It was recently announced that the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is soon to export multiple species of protected but endangered wildlife. These include 12 gorillas, 16 booboos, 16 chimpanzees, 8 manatees and 20 Okapis.

According to press reports, Chinese authorities made this request as part of the bilateral agreement between the Institutions Congolais pour la conservation de la nature (ICCN) and Chinese zoos.

Following the request by executive director of Tianjin Junheng International Trade Corporation, Mr. Liu Ming Heng to import these wildlife, DRC’s Minister for Environment, Nature Conservation and Sustainable Development Mr. Amy Ambatobe Nyongolo announced the arrival in China of a team of Congolese experts with a mission to make sure good reception and ideal conservation of the animals in the two zoos they’re destined. The two are Taiyuan Zoo and Anji Zhongnan Zoo.

However, even as plans to export these species from DRC to China is said to be above board, several organizations and individuals have come up to criticize the move, calling for a halt to the process and mostly citing China’s track record with inhumane treatment of animals for their call.

According to Save Virunga, an organization formed to give a voice to local communities that depend on the survival of Virunga National Park, this agreement appears to be skewed in favor of China, a one-way street where China is going to get the lion’s share.

“No Chinese endemic species are here in the DRC nor experts from China are involved in any conservation within the DRC yet they can make requests for anything they want from our fauna and flora and get it,” the organization said in a post in their website.

It further questioned the animal treatment of the two zoos the Congolese animals are destined to.

In February 2018, The Times under the headline Emaciated lion chews off its own tail in squalid Taiyuan Zoo in Shanxi, reported a case where a lion at a zoo apparently ate part of its tail after keepers apparently forgot to feed it.

According to The Times, Video footage shows the lion, which appears to be female, looking malnourished and pacing a small, bare caged area it was sharing with another lion in Taiyuan Zoo in Shanxi province. About half of its tail appears to be missing, with a bloody stump visible at the end of what remains.

The article further reported that more three calves imported into China in November 2012 are still languishing in miserable conditions inside Chinese zoos and their health remains a major cause for concern.

Save Virunga writes that the other zoo, Anji Zhongnan Zoo is not a garden but an amusement and theme park.

“Naturally, there are many plants too, but this place is certainly not designed in the vein of garden. Animal lovers beware: most of the animals are treated poorly,” it claims.

According to Save Virunga, following the letter of the Minister Amy Ambatobe Nyongolo, the director of the ICCN, Pasteur Dr. Cosma Wilungula, responded that the ICCN is required to respect the provisions of the CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) and related Congolese laws, which provide that export cannot be done for commercial purposes.

This means that the Scientific Authorities of the DRC and China as well as the Chinese Trader will have to get approval from CITES for an import and export permit.

The CITES Convention is an international agreement between governments that aims to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival.

Conserve Congo in a statement through its director Mr. Adams Cassinga expressed shock and consternation at the proposed “export of our endemic species to China!”

The statement further said: “The communiqué seems to be simply an informative piece of information instead of it seeking consensus from the Congolese people. We, as Conserve Congo are appalled by this decision and we vouch to alert the whole world for these animals to remain in their natural habitat here at home. Our country is not for sale and so is our wildlife.”

The organization called on CITES to look into this and probe the whole process because it said this is the essence of its existence in the first place.

Virunga Community Programs in a statement says everyone should stand up against this move that would mean these endangered species are plucked from their natural habitat and taken to the zoos where there’ll be restriction to their movements and normal ways of life.

The statement says this is a dangerous precedent in the Virungas that doesn’t augur well for the overall health of the species. “The zoos are like prison where these animals are not going to lead their normal lives. They are familiar with their habitat and we should also question whether sufficient research was carried out before the move was announced. Otherwise we are sending our priceless natural heritage to their early death,” says the statement.

The statement says there should be credible audit of where these animals are destined, and whether they will survive in China as they do in DRC. “There have been precedence set worldwide where translocation of animals has to their experiencing trauma and even death, and we must take this into account before the move is sanctioned,” it said.

The statement says these are endangered species that have suffered in the past as a result of poaching, and their sheer small numbers means they should be protected at all costs. “Taking them to another habitat doesn’t mean they’re being protected.”

The statement further says Virunga Community Programs will join hand with other organizations and individuals to ensure this move is stopped until all these concerns are addressed

BEST TIMES TO VISIT RWANDA

Many tour operators and hospitality industry players are decrying the low tourism season in Rwanda at the moment. However, there are other operators and tourism players like Virunga Community Programs that have come up with innovative programs to ensure that the low tourism period doesn’t adversely affect their operations.

Most visitors would like to know the best time to visit Rwanda. We have compiled you some of the best months when you can get the best out of the country in terms of your travel, since majority of tourists normally want to get the best and memorable experience on their Rwanda safari.

The Best Time To Tour Rwanda

The best period you can visit Rwanda is between mid-May and Mid-October. Why? This is the long dry season, and makes ideal conditions when you want to track the gorillas. Tracking the gorillas during the rainy season can always be challenging, especially when you must endure a rainy day. There are normally 4 seasons to consider when you are planning your Rwanda tour. But the weather is fairly temperate and it favors travel all the year round. This is because of the country’s compact size, together with its proximity to the equator and the high altitude that provides it some fresh highland feel plus consistent temperature.

As mentioned before, you may track the gorillas in Rwanda, and the wider Virunga massif all year round. But you shouldn’t forget that rainier months make tracking more difficult and challenging owing to muddy conditions.

When To Visit: By Season

March-Mid-May

This is the country’s long rainy season, and it may be unrelenting particularly in the mountainous regions. Tracking the gorillas is less suited to this period. However, when looking forward to tracking the Chimpanzees in Nyungwe Forest area, this may prove to be the ideal time since the fruits and figs found here ripen and the chimpanzees will come lower down the trees to eat. They will be more stationary and likely to be seen in larger groups.

Mid-May to Mid-October

This is a long dry spell with perfect conditions for tracking the gorillas in the Volcanoes National Park and also for seeing Rwanda’s wide array of exciting wildlife. Therefore, when you have some flexibility with your dates, Virunga Community Programsrecommend travelling during this period. Wildlife sightings are more prevalent at this period, with the mountain gorillas and golden monkeys, buffaloes and elephants more visible during this dry time. Since gorillas live in the rainforest, we advise that you have waterproof clothing even during the dry months. Note that this is also peak season in Rwanda, therefore gorilla trekking costs are higher.

Mid October to November

Short rains period, and the months may be great for bird watching since plants and trees are flowering and birdlife is quite vibrant. It’s even possible to enjoy some specialist bird trips with Virunga Community Programs. Also green seasons make for amazing photography conditions, since the rains tend to be heavy and quick before clearing due to perfect blue skies, a condition ideal for capturing amazing scenery.

December to February

This is another peak period to visit the country. The short dry season is perfect for animal sightings. Also the drier periods may be ideal for those looking forward to canoe, climb mountains or hike. You don’t need to shelter for the rains! However, accommodation charges tend to be higher when it comes to the peak periods.

Why we should involve the local community in conservation

The good news about conservation success is becoming rare nowadays. That’s why when it was recently announced that the population of the mountain gorillas living in the Virunga mountains has increased, many conservationists must have opened the champagne to toast the news.

However, still, the African wildlife is still under threat. And we must address, as those concerned with conservation, what measures should be undertaken to save our natural environment.

At Virunga Community Programs, we believe that to save the endangered species like the mountain gorillas, we should work with people living alongside them. For the short period we have interacted with them through our operations, we have developed some set of principles we hope will forge a successful partnership.

This generation is presently witness to-and in several ways complicit in- mass extinction of species.

Those of us trying to save our biodiversity feel a compelling need to act, and quick. Driven by this passionate mission, several conservationists lobby to erect fences, enact more stringent legislation, and equip park rangers with guns. However, the killing of wildlife and depletion of forests still continue unabated.

In Africa, imposing laws, science or policies onto communities without taking into account their well-being has been rarely effective-let alone ethical or appropriate. In our frantic efforts to turn the tide and protect these endangered species plus their habitats, we sometimes have not paused to consider the way these interventions may affect the individuals who share these habitats-mostly economically vulnerable rural communities who rely on those very ecosystems.

While the government of Rwanda, for instance, through revenue sharing program has managed to involve the local community in conservation, in other parts of the continent, this has been rarely seen.

For instance, many countries enact laws that ban hunting, but did they actually ask the people what this would mean to them? Or even how restrictions on the use of land of protected areas would handicap their livelihoods, lives, and rituals?

Consequently, wildlife conservation in Africa in particular and the world, in general, is littered with examples of how unsuitable interventions can hamper conservation efforts.

Fortunately, for the past few years, things are changing. We have witnessed an increasing number of conservationists, policymakers, practitioners, scientists and even governments working to conserve biodiversity and wildlife recognize the critical need to engage with local communities living in areas of concern.

The Rwanda success story of protecting the mountain gorillas is a perfect example of how engaging the local community through empowering them can go along way in making conservation efforts to bear fruits.

Many people get into conservation since they deeply care about the natural world. They are interested in ecology. They want just to roll up their sleeves and “change the world”. But they lack some crucial element: enough training on how they should engage with local communities and what aspects they need to think about when they do.

We still have got some learning to do. The Virunga Community Programs promises to go off and find ways through which they can rope in the local communities in conservation efforts in the Virunga massif.

We believe that where there is a will there's a way. We invite other partners to join us and jointly help in finding local solutions through which we can be able to eventually manage to conserve our wildlife and biodiversity.

We should undertake measures to improve security in and around Virunga National Park

The Virunga National Park authority made the drastic but a significant decision in May 2018 to close it in the wake of the tragic incident earlier when one of the park’s rangers was killed, while three other people that included two visitors were abducted, but later released. This was not only a big loss for community tourism but also the image of the country at large.

Emmanuel de Merode, Chief Warden of Virunga National Park when announcing the decision, said the safety of visitors will always take precedence, and in regards to that, they have taken a number of significant measures to bring sanity back to the park.

Among the measures Emmanuel de Merode announced was hiring of internationally reputed specialist security firm to audit the park’s security measures “so that we can make a balanced and rigorous assessment of visitor security”.

He also announced they are hiring extra security staff, both locally and internationally, so as to bolster the park’s security protocols.

The Virunga National Park has been deeply affected by insecurity, and this is going to remain the same for some time. But as the park’s chief said, for it to be visited safely, much more robust measures should be undertaken than before.

Virunga Community Programs echoes the sentiments, for we believe that for safety to be restored, much more effort should be expended on improving security in and around the park.

The insecurity in this region are mainly caused by internecine conflicts, chronic poverty and hunger, illegal oil exploration, fight for natural minerals, and the park’s past dynamics.

Presently, there are several peasants illegally living in the park. They were driven there by scarcity of land, lack of economic opportunities, and the belief that the park was built on their “ancestral” land.

Other people enter the park sporadically in order to carry out illegal activities such as fishing, poaching, logging, cultivation, and production of charcoal. The presence of armed actors makes these activities possible. They allow civilians to carry out these activities, in exchange for protection fees. It implies that a good number of the population that lives in or around this park collaborates currently with armed groups to guarantee their livelihoods.

However much the closure of the park is a difficult decision for the park authorities, in light of the insecurity rampant in this region, Virunga Community Programs believes that this should be taken as a blessing in disguise, and we should use the closure to undertake viable initiatives to completely wipe out the problems facing it forever.

For instance, this should be the time concerted education about the benefits of tourism and conservation should be carried out. We should involve professionals, conservation stakeholders and the local population in finding ways through which we should protect the park.

We also believe that since poverty and hunger are also the root causes of insecurity in and around the park, we should initiate measures to mitigate these. Virunga Community Programs has identified various measures through which we can empower the local community, which in turn will act as a buffer against insecurity, while promoting conservation.

For instance, apart from conservation education campaigns, intensive fundraising should be carried out to help the local families mired in poverty. 

We should ask ourselves why it’s only the Virunga National Park that suffers this debilitating insecurity situation. Other parks like the Volcanoes National Parks in Rwanda, the Kahuzi-Biega in DRC, and the Mgahinga National Park in Uganda are open and things are running normally. But why only the Virunga? What’s not being done right there to improve security? Are we actively involving the locals in tourism and conservation activities? And is the local community benefiting from tourism, like in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Parks, where revenue sharing is part of the RDB’s initiative to promote conservation?

Virunga Community Programs welcome conservation stakeholders, nature lovers, volunteers, conservationists, researchers, tourists, students, tour operators, fundraisers, and you who are interested in protecting the park to come and we join hands so that we can save this park for posterity.

How conservation efforts around the Virunga massif are bearing fruits

On 31 May 2018, a census result was released that showed the gorilla population that live in the Virunga Mountains has risen from 480 in the year 2010 to 604 as of June 2016.  This, combined with the numbers of mountain gorillas found in the Bwindi Impenetrable Gorilla National Park brings the total number to slightly over 1000.

This news has been met with cheers, particularly from conservation stakeholders that must have made this possible. This increase, according to research, reconfirms the mountain gorillas as the only wild ape whose population is known to be increasing.

 The increase can be attributed to the kind of intensive daily protection that’s provided by conservation organizations like the Musanze-based Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund together with park authorities of Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda (RDB).

The announcement also represented a massive success for conservation efforts at a time such success stories are becoming increasingly rare. Credit goes to all those striving to protect these endangered species-the governments of DRC, Uganda and Rwanda, different conservation organizations operating in the Virunga mountains and, of course, the local communities.

 Research has indicated that this consistent increase in mountain gorilla population is credited to intensive protection that’s provided by the three countries’ park authorities together with conservation-minded organizations.

 But despite this success, because of their small number mixed with high levels of threats, including snares set to trap other animals, climate change, disease and limited habitat, continued protection of these sub-species is extremely critical and must go on.

The current census conducted represents the 9th count of mountain gorilla population in the Virunga massif since the early 1970s. Population records show that after more than 10 years of documented decline in their numbers, in 1981 the population reached a low of 242 mountain gorillas. However, subsequent censuses have shown consistent increase in their population to the recently released number of 604 in the Virunga range.

 The Virunga Massif, straddling the three countries of DRC, Uganda and Rwanda, covers 451 km2. It includes Volcanoes National Park (Rwanda), Mikeno Sector of Virunga National Park (DRC) and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park (Uganda).  These (together with Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (Uganda) are the only two places in the world you will ever find the rare mountain gorilla.

Furthermore, the census also acts as some great example as to why continued research, provided by organizations like the Virunga Community Programs, is significant to long-term conservation efforts. Repeated census offers crucial insights and assessments into the entire mountain gorilla population, while at the same time it confirms that intensive conservation efforts are truly working. It also provides conservation partners with some ideal conservation planning.

The local communities must also be commended for this great news. It appears like conservation education and community development being carried around the Virunga Mountains continue to bear fruits.

With effective conservation initiatives and their success stories, the local communities are now realizing the fruits of tourism and conservation around the parks. Tourism now plays a great role in conservation, as witnessed in Rwanda where a fraction of the tourism dollar goes directly in supporting local community in building schools and hospitals. The economy of the country is being improved through building of different infrastructures with money from tourism. With this, people come to appreciate the importance of conservation, and it’s now evident they’re taking conservation seriously.

Through educating people concerning the consequences of our actions, particularly to do with rampant destruction of nature, we get to understand the ways to preserve our natural heritage. Here at the Virunga Community Programs, we are aware that what has been lost can never be reclaimed. All those gorillas that lost their lives due to rampant poaching will never be resurrected.

However, we should learn from the past and join hands in promoting conservation initiatives. Through this, we help to preserve Mother Earth at its paradisiacal pristine.