Gorilla Conservation in Uganda – Uganda Gorilla Safaris – Gorilla trekking.
Gorilla Conservation in Uganda. Gorillas are considered a critically endangered species all over the world with only just one thousand of them still existing. These are found in a few African countries including Uganda, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, and Cameroon. Uganda serves as a safe home to more than half of the remaining population of Mountain gorillas and they are found in only two destinations and that’s Bwindi impenetrable national game park and Mgahinga gorilla national park. Mountain gorillas in Uganda and all other African destinations found are threatened by quite a several things including, disease, loss of habitat, illegal hunting for meat and trophies, and the most prominent one being encroachment on their habitat by humans a thing that is influenced by worsening conditions of living, lack of social services, poverty, and high human population growth.
Gorilla Conservation in Uganda. To address these threats to gorilla conservation many gorilla conservation organizations have been set up and many have come up with incredible initiatives to safeguard the future of these gentle giants. The most popular one of all organizations is Conservation through Public health.
To tackle the threats above, conservation through public health has focused on improving gorilla health, through regular health monitoring of habituated gorilla groups, improving community attitudes to gorilla and forest conservation, and improving community conservation practices through the promotion of clean energy. Special emphasis has been put on the meaningful engagement of women and other community members in their co-existence with the mountain gorillas and the forests they call a safe place.
Gorilla Health monitoring
Conservation for public health set up the gorilla health monitoring unit to proactively address and tackle species disease outbreaks between people, gorillas, and livestock by establishing an early warning system. To make this very effective, a Gorilla Research Clinic was established in 2005 at Buhoma – Bwindi’s main tourist site. In 2015, the research clinic was upgraded to a larger Gorilla Health and Community Conservation Centre with support from Tusk Trust where samples from gorillas, livestock, and people are analyzed to test for diseases that have the potential to be shared across species. This initiative has proved so important as it has reduced threats to the mountain gorillas by providing early warnings for disease outbreaks between people, livestock, and the gorillas.
Community volunteers have been trained and turned into Gorilla-Human Conflict Resolution teams with responsibilities including reporting clinical signs in gorillas and collecting fecal samples from gorilla night nests and trails both inside and outside the national park, safely chasing gorillas back into Bwindi Impenetrable National Park when they encroach on community land often when foraging for banana plants, collect gorilla fecal samples left on community land as part of monitoring gorilla health at a time when they are most at risk from human diseases.
Gorilla Conservation in Uganda
Communication for Conservation
Through the Village Health and Conservation Teams, families bordering protected areas are designed to receive conservation messages through peer education programs. Each VHCT is in charge of 50 homes and while delivering critical health services, they also deliver information on the importance of gorillas and the conservation of their forest habitat.
Youth engagement in Conservation
Youths and children are motivated to learn about the conservation and health of mountain gorillas through sports and cultural entertainment projects. Through partnerships with various international bodies, conservation for public health organizes football and netball tournaments at Bwindi Impenetrable National Park to improve youth community engagement in conservation. conservation education curriculums have been designed to provide lessons to the participants about gorilla conservation and future existence.
Gorilla Conservation in Uganda
Women’s engagement in the conservation of gorillas.
Meaningful engagement and participation of women and girls in gorilla conservation projects have been initiated. opportunities have been created to support them in roles of conservation leadership, within the communities in which they work, in recognition of the pivotal role that women and girls have in environmental management and biodiversity conservation.
