Uganda, DRC Communities Strengthen Gorilla Conservation

Communities around Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park are planting useful trees outside the park to meet local needs for firewood, medicine and crafts, reducing pressure on habitat for mountain gorillas. Bwindi holds about 450 mountain gorillas, and tourism supports local jobs and conservation as their population recovers while forest habitat remains limited. Conservation efforts also connect human and wildlife health: Ugandan veterinarian Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka helped protect gorillas from disease by promoting measures such as mask use during the COVID-19 pandemic and argues that improving neighbors’ well-being is essential to protecting the animals. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund said formal recognition of another 445 square kilometers of community-managed forest brings legal recognition to 91% of its Nkuba Conservation Area, strengthening habitat protection for critically depleted Grauer’s gorillas.