The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Good news for mountain gorillas as conservation status improves
Conservation efforts have helped mountain gorillas take a step back from the brink of extinction, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has said.
The subspecies of gorilla, which is found in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda, has moved from critically endangered to endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Anti-poaching patrols, removal of snares and work with communities who live around the areas where mountain gorillas are found have helped boost numbers from an estimated 680 in 2008 to more than 1,000 in 2018.
Dr Liz Williamson of the IUCN primate specialist group said it was “fantastic news” the mountain gorillas are increasing in number, but warned they were still endangered and conservation action must continue.
Fauna and Flora International (FFI), which established the International Gorilla Conservation Programme in 1991 to protect mountain gorillas, has called for conservation efforts to be enhanced, not weakened.
Matt Walpole, from FFI said: “Mountain gorillas remain threatened with extinction despite significant conservation efforts over recent decades, and we have to make sure we build on these achievements and not allow this success to become an excuse for weakening protections.”
Threats to the apes including irresponsible development, disease and climate change remain, and while gorilla tourism has played an important part in protection, it needs the right safeguards to continue to do so, he said.