Gorilla Conservation Projects
Since the early 1990s, our gorilla conservation projects have continued to go from strength to strength.
Our work has helped stop the decline of Africa’s critically endangered gorillas, whilst also transforming the lives of thousands of people, most of them living in some of Africa’s poorest communities.
Our projects have carried on through civil war, famine and natural disasters.
Working with communities in Rwanda, Uganda and DR Congo, our projects build a better future for gorillas and the people they live alongside.
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
In eastern DRC, we are committed to a range of critical initiatives aimed at gorilla protection, economic development, and biodiversity preservation.
From our base in Goma, at the foot of the active volcanoes Nyamulagira and Nyiragongo, our headquarters staff manage gorilla protection activities within the vast Maïko, Itombwe and Walikale reserves. Headed by project manager Henry Cirhuza, our dedicated teams work tirelessly to safeguard the magnificent gorillas and their habitats.
At Virunga and Kahuzi-Biega National Parks, we support vital economic development projects. These include reforestation at Kalehe, near Kahuzi-Biega, and a ground-breaking social integration project for indigenous Bambuti people at Ngwenda, adjacent to Virunga.
Uganda
From The Gorilla Organization’s field headquarters and training centre in Kisoro, Uganda, Regional Programme Manager Dr Samson Werikhe oversees a range of projects designed to foster sustainable community-based conservation and support the rangers and operations of the Uganda Wildlife Authority.
The projects are strategically located in areas adjacent to the gorilla habitats of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park. By improving economic opportunities and standards of well-being in the communities closest to the gorilla habitat, we continue to garner their long-term support for gorilla conservation. The approach successfully diminishes the demand for forest products such as timber, fuelwood, bush meat, honey, medicinal plants, bamboo, mushrooms, and water. This, in turn, helps to protect and preserve vital natural resources and the habitat of Uganda’s 400 mountain gorillas.
Supporting Rainforest Rangers
After years of civil war, much of the Democratic Republic of Congo is a lawless wilderness with no government rangers. Our community rangers are brave and selfless men, risking their own lives to save their gorilla brothers and sisters.
Children for Sustainable Conservation
Encouraging children who live near the gorillas to love the environment can change their nations’ conservation efforts, creating the forest-friendly farmers, conservationists, artists and eco-tour operators of tomorrow.
Empowering Women and Girls
With every initiative that The Gorilla Organization sets up, from farming and education to solar power skills training, women raise up their communities and teach other women.
Stop the Snares
In just four years our Stop the Snares Project has reduced the number of snares in south Bwindi Impenetrable National Park from 800 to virtually zero. This has removed a terrible danger for the last remaining mountain gorillas. It must continue.
Supporting Indigenous Communities
The people living right alongside the gorillas in the Virunga National Park are some of the poorest in Africa, with levels of poverty particularly high among the indigenous communities.
Sustainable Organic Farming
Traditional farming is hard work, it doesn’t supply enough for people to live on and it damages the land, so local people turn the national parks into farmland and forage in the forests. We give them an alternative.
The Gorilla Safe Zone
The once-mighty Congo basin rainforest is disappearing fast.
We are planting millions of trees to help local communities and stop them entering the national parks where the last wild gorillas can survive.
Ymke Warren Memorial Conservation Award
Young Africans are changing the face of conservation and the Ymke Warren Memorial Gorilla Conservation Award is dedicated to helping the best early career researchers.
Historic gorilla projects
The Gorilla Organization has been involved in a range of initiatives over more than two decades.
Some projects reach a natural end, while others are discontinued or out on hiatus for many reasons from a lack of funding or participants or a change in the political background.
