Introduction
With the inception of the new Conservation Action Program in February 2001, the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International has truly become a regional conservation force in East Africa, exporting its many decades of experience gained by successfully operating the Karisoke Research Center, while at the same time promoting a philosophy of community-based conservation that empowers local people to become stewards of their biological heritage. As the Conservation Action Program has grown and matured these last 18 months, DFGFI has greatly expanded its conservation activities and scope of work throughout many areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo in what is known as the Albertine Rift Region of East Africa.
The Albertine Rift, and Its Origin as a World Conservation "Hotspot"
Our members may be familiar with the Albertine Rift, by virtue of its geological and geographical centerpiece, the chain of Virunga volcanoes, home to the endangered mountain gorillas and the area originally chosen by Dian Fossey to study wild gorillas in their natural habitat (Figure 1). Geologists believe that these volcanoes were born about 2-3 million years ago, as continental drift slowly caused the African tectonic plates to move across an area where the earth's magma forced its way through the crust, uplifting the Virunga chain, which now rise thousands of meters above the Albertine Rift valley. As the Virungas were born, they actually uplifted what was once the central area of the Albertine valley, blocking the prehistoric flow of Lake Kivu north to Lake Edward, to its present drainage pattern, where it now flows south to Lake Tanganyika.
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Even before the birth of the Virunga volcanoes, the Albertine Rift Valley had come into existence in the Pliocene Epoch about 7 million years ago. It, as well as the Great Rift Valley to the east, was created, as two continental plates, the Somalian and Nubian African plates, traveled at two different speeds, slowing separating from each other. This process of continental drift produced the Albertine valley that begins just north of Lake Albert, and follows Lakes Edward, Kivu, and Tanganyika, where it then travels southeast and converges with the Great Rift Valley at Lake Rukwa in Tanzania (Figure 1). During the birth of the Albertine Rift and for millions of years afterward, tectonic forces produced geologic uplifting, which in turn created vast expanses of mountainous habitat extending as much as 150-200 km on either side of the Albertine valley. Thus ecologists speaking of the Albertine Rift Ecoregion always include the mountainous highlands and escarpments on either side of the Albertine Rift valley that include portions of Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Tanzania.
It is these present-day mountains or "Highlands" (above 1500 m altitude) on each side of the Albertine Rift (as well as the Virunga Chain uplifted in its center), where the composition of tree species transition into a unique habitat identified as "Afromontane Forest" *1, which now attracts the attention of conservationists throughout the world. These cool, moist Afromontane Forest Zones and Highlands of the Albertine Rift contain high levels of biodiversity coupled with high rates of species endemism*2, and for that reason are considered one of the world's "hotspots" for conservation. For example, the Albertine Rift contains 41 endemic species of birds, 123 endemic species of butterfly, and at least 29 endemic species of mammals. The high rate of bird species endemism has led Birdlife International to rank the Albertine Rift Region as among the seven most important sites in Africa for bird conservation. The rich biodiversity of the region has led World Wildlife Fund US to categorize the Albertine Rift as one of its worldwide "Ecoregions" and to place high priority on its conservation. The MacArthur Foundation has identified the Albertine Rift as a key site for which it will provide conservation funding in 2003.
Important for DFGFI and its supporters, the Albertine Rift also contains both subspecies of eastern gorilla, the mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei) of Rwanda, DRC, and Uganda, and Graueri's eastern lowland gorilla (Gorilla beringei graueri) of DRC Congo. It is this latter species that led our organization to create the regional Conservation Action Program, which now provides protection for eastern lowland gorillas as well as the unique Albertine Rift ecosystems in the Congo where they are found.
Our readers may wonder why the Albertine Highlands and Afromontane forest zones, in addition to containing both forms of eastern gorilla, has attained such a rich biological diversity and high rates of species endemism. This is probably the result of what most paleoecologists deem the "refuge theory", where present-day "core areas" or "habitat arks" of montane forest, because of their cool, high-altitude, moist and stable climates, are theorized to have survived past worldwide arid phases, when the Congo Basin rainforest as we know it today did not exist. During the last arid phase, coinciding with the last glacial maximum at 18,000 yr BP, paleoecologists suggest that there were two major refuges that functioned as "habitat arks" for all of Central Africa*3. The first or "Cameroon/Gabon Refuge" is in the Ogoowe River basin in West Central Africa. The second habitat ark is the "Central Refuge". It is this latter "refuge" that was located within the Highlands of the Albertine Rift system in the eastern portion of Democratic Republic of Congo (Figure 1). Thus, according to the paleoecological evidence, during the last arid phase at 18,000 yr BP, the entire Congo basin was converted to woodland savannah, while species of flora and fauna previously adapted to rainforest only survived in the "Refuge Areas" until about 8,500 yr BP, when world climate once again became humid enough so that rainforests and their fauna spread from the two major mountain refuges in the east and west to colonize the entire Congo basin.
These climatic events and the concomitant shifts in flora and fauna also had profound influences on gorilla populations in East Africa. Mitochondrial DNA studies of both Graueri's gorilla and the mountain gorilla*4 suggest that they have been separated as subspecies for the last 400,000 years, with each separate subspecies probably spreading and receding as each successive wave of climate change fostered the expansion and retreat of moist rainforests. Significantly, however, these same mitochondrial DNA studies have shown that each subspecies of gorilla underwent what is called a genetic bottleneck at about 20,000 years ago, indicating that each dwindled in population size and lost a great deal of genetic variability. Thus, as the rainforests retreated to the small mountain refuges in East Africa, gorilla populations were reduced in size and likely confined to small geographical areas (such as is still the case for the mountain gorillas of Bwindi and the Virungas, which are nearly genetically identical). To the west in Congo, this means that the current distribution of Graueri's gorillas is a recent phenomenon, suggesting that as the forests expanded in the last 10,000 years, what once was a small population of gorillas with little genetic variation isolated in small areas of montane forest, spread with forest expansion to occupy the geographical range for Graueri's gorillas as it existed before the colonial period. Obviously, in the last two hundred years, these gorilla populations have once again started to retreat, but this time, rather than climate, it is the result of human habitat degradation, hunting, and agricultural expansion.
Current Threats to Biodiversity in the Albertine Rift Region of Congo
Agricultural Expansion: For many decades, even before Congolese independence, the principle biodiversity threat in East Congo has been human population expansion (also see The Tayna Gorilla Reserve, North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo, P.T. Mehlman and P. Kakule, posted on the DFGFI website November 2001, www.gorillafund.org). DFGFI CAP background research in North Kivu, DRC has shown that as human populations continue to expand from east to west, the first migrants into primary forest zones are settlers, who establish small villages in forested areas. These small villages practice slash and burn (or shifting) agriculture, and after only a few years, a village of only a few households can deforest large areas of up to several kilometres in size. These same settlers exist on subsistence hunting, often using an area larger than 50 km2 for extraction, using shotgun, snares, net hunting, slingshots, spears, etc. As agricultural fields fatigue and faunal resources are over-hunted, these settlers move farther (generally west) into the forest, while selling their previous fields and land to large commercial interests, who then clear-cut large areas for pasturage of dairy and meat cattle, sheep, and goats. In North Kivu, for example, this process has resulted in the loss of huge expanses of primary forest and the extinction of local gorilla populations that once stretched from Mt. Tshiaverimu to what is now the Tayna Gorilla Reserve (Figure 2). Further, mining extraction of gold in North Kivu, first on a massive scale by the colonial Belgians, and then on a smaller, entrepreneurial scale by local inhabitants, severely damages watercourses and brings more people into the area. They of course, practice subsistence hunting and supplement their incomes by participating in the bush meat trade. In South Kivu, a similar process has occurred with the development of coltan mining*5.
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Civil War in the Congo Accelerates the Conservation Crisis: The eastern lowland gorilla provides an example of what is now a conservation crisis in the Albertine Rift of Eastern Congo. The last comprehensive surveys of Gorilla beringei graueri ineastern Democratic Republic of Congo were completed in 1996, and they provided an overall estimate of approximately 17,000 individuals*6. Sadly, civil war in Congo began the same year and has continued more or less unabated until the present. Although no comprehensive census data exists, conservationists active in the Kahuzi-Biega National Park in Congo now suggest that the gorilla population, estimated to be approximately 8,000 individuals in 1996, may now number fewer than 1,000 individuals*7, an 85% reduction in numbers. A combination of deleterious forces related to the civil war has been responsible for this decimation of gorillas and other wildlife in the Kahuzi-Biega National Park (and in the Virunga National Park*8). Civil war and the proliferation of firearms have led to massive poaching. An uncontrolled mining rush for coltan has brought thousands of miners into the Kahuzi-Biega Park. Not only are their mining practices extremely destructive to the habitat, but they also contribute to huge increases in bushmeat hunting. Kahuzi-Biega has also experienced an invasion by agricultural settlers, who by practicing shifting agriculture contribute to the destruction, degradation and loss of habitat, but also significantly increase the amount of bushmeat trade. The presence of armies and armed rebels, through illegal poaching for food and even "sport killing", has increased the slaughter. Finally, the civil war has led to a lack of resources (salaries, equipment, infrastructure) and isolation from the international community, which in turn has severely reduced management and protection efforts by Congolese wardens and rangers working for the National Parks.
In Kahuzi-Biega, the severe reduction of gorilla numbers has been closely observed and received international attention. Throughout the rest of North and South Kivu, Eastern Congo, very little information has been gathered (because of the civil war), but it is feared that identical pressures have occurred. The entire population of Gorilla beringei graueri, once thought to number 17,000, could have experienced pressures similar to those of Kahuzi-Biega, potentially decreasing their numbers to 2,000-3,000. Very little is known about the fate of chimpanzees and other large mammals, but it is certain that these populations have suffered significant reductions as well. For example, in the lowland sector of the Kahuzi-Biega National Park, it is reported that elephants have virtually disappeared*9.
DFGFI "Conservation Action" in the Albertine Rift of Eastern Congo
The DFGFI Intervention Strategy: It is essential that immediate conservation intervention be provided in Eastern Congo to counteract the effects of the ongoing conservation crisis. The fate of the eastern lowland gorilla is indicative of that of other medium and large mammals as well as the ecosystems of the Albertine Rift they inhabit. DFGFI believes that we cannot wait for a resolution of the civil war in Congo to begin conservation initiatives in this region. The crisis is immediate and any delay will result in irreversible and significant losses in biodiversity perhaps the extinction of the eastern lowland gorilla. Further, Eastern Congo has only a small surface area of Afromontane forest under National Park protection, while the vast majority of these forests, which are rich in biodiversity and endemic species, remain completely unprotected.
Because so much of the biodiversity of the Albertine Rift of Eastern Congo resides outside of officially designated National Parks and Reserves, and because the majority of the established Parks are already receiving some support via international conservation organizations working in the region, the Conservation Action Program has opted to to focus its efforts on community conservation at sites outside of the officially designated Protected Areas, where eastern lowland gorillas still exist. The DFGFI strategy, therefore, provides an alternative approach for conservation in the region: one that empowers local people to protect and conserve their heritage, and one that is based on traditional African land-ownership and governance. Thus, as these community-based reserves mature and receive official recognition, more areas rich in biodiversity will be brought under protection against agricultural expansion, mining, timber extraction, hunting, and the bushmeat trade.
DFGFI Support for Three New Community-Based Conservation Programs: As DFGFI supporters are aware, the lead project for the Conservation Action Program of DFGFI in Congo is the Tayna Gorilla Reserve. This community-based conservation project is being supported by internal funding from DFGFI and a USAID grant awarded in September 2001, derived from a United States Congressional appropriations act specifically directed to "deter poaching and protect mountain gorillas' habitat" (see The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International Expands Programs with Funds from USAID website press release, March 25, 2002).
DFGFI supporters who have followed this remarkable story are by now aware that the Tayna Reserve is an innovative grass-roots project that has as its goals both the conservation of biodiversity and rural development. This biodiversity reserve (700+ km2) is entirely managed by local stakeholders, and receives technical advice, training, and financial assistance from DFGFI. As a result of the many successes of the Tayna Gorilla Reserve, three new community conservation projects in the Albertine Rift of the Eastern Congo are modeling their efforts on this project, have entered into conservation partnerships with DFGFI, and are currently conducting conservation activities in their areas: 1) the Reserve Communautaire des Primates de Bakumbule (ReCoPriBa)in the Walikale Territory; 2) the Initiative Locale pour la Sauvegarde de la Nature (ILSN) in the Masisi Territory; and 3) the Action Communautaire pour la Protection de la Nature (ACPN) in the Itombwe Massif (Figure 3).
Progress with the Tayna Reserve: The Tayna Reserve, located in the Albertine escarpment, is characterized by steep mountains (1200-2000m) dissected by river gorges and valleys. Over the last 18 months, with the generous support of our members and a grant from the Louisville Zoo, the Tayna and DFGFI staff has completed a series of surveys based on ground and air reconnaissance. DFGFI President, Clare Richardson, participated in our last air reconnaissance flight in December 2001. Shortly thereafter in January 2002, the project completed the first habitat map of the area, necessary to understand the distribution of forests and the human population. This work established that the majority of the Reserve is covered in primary forest (85% of surface area) with most secondary forest confined to agricultural clearings.
During the last year, DFGFI staff has trained Tayna Guides on GPS techniques, transect and data collection methodology, nest monitoring, and basic techniques required for beginning the habituation process for two of the gorilla groups. In May 2002, a variable-width line transect census of gorillas, chimpanzees, and other large mammals was completed and results indicate that Graueri's gorillas are continuously distributed within an area that encompasses 480 km2 (Figure 4). We are presently calculating density estimates from the line transect data, but we believe that our original estimates of 250+ gorillas will be a minimum number. The census also revealed that the Tayna Reserve contains at least 17 species of primates, with the mammalian faunal list now containing at least 80 species, including forest elephant, buffalo, leopard, and okapi. The Tayna Reserve contains 5 of the 29 endemic mammal species for the Albertine Rift, and 4 of the 8 near-endemic mammal species. For mammals, the Tayna Gorilla Reserve is providing protection for four endangered species (including of course Pan troglodytes schweinfurthi, the eastern chimpanzee, and Gorilla beringei graueri, the eastern lowland gorilla), six vulnerable species, and nine near-threatened species*10.
Because of the generous support of our members during the last 18 months as well as the intervention of the U.S. Congressional Directive, the Tayna Reserve is now totally operational. There are 24 "guides" (rather than "guards" or rangers), 24 trackers, and 10 administrative staff. Since the completion of the census, the field staff has now begun ranger-based monitoring and anti-poaching patrols. Two research stations have been completed, which provide forest bases for the patrols. The population is being educated through village discussions, seminars, and children's conservation clubs. Rural projects (e.g., support for an orphanage, production of local handicrafts, medical care, etc.) are also underway as part of the Reserve's efforts. Most recently, in April 2002, Dr. Mehlman completed another site visit in the southern sector of the Reserve so that he could evaluate the Project's progress both with respect to bio-monitoring and the establishment of the field infrastructure. The Project has remained on schedule and the Tayna staff has established an important presence in this region, gaining the respect of local stakeholders. Local village people have been hired on a temporary basis to build an access road to the edge of the Reserve, and it is nearing completion, with only several bridges that remain to be completed.
Since April 2002, Tayna Field Staff have been participating regularly in a Karisoke Exchange Program. Every several weeks, four Tayna field workers come to the Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda, where they work alongside Karisoke Staff, learning data collection methods, participating in anti-poaching patrols, and observing the habituated gorilla groups. In April 2002, three Tayna staff were also trained in GIS techniques by staff from the GIS Center, National University of Rwanda, Butare, so that they could begin to implement advanced mapping techniques for their project. The Coordinator of the Tayna Reserve, Pierre Kakule, has traveled to the U.S. to give presentations at two conferences for the American Society of Primatologists (ASP). In the last conference at Oklahoma City in June 2002, Mr. Kakule received the ASP Conservation Award for his outstanding work in Congo.
Replication of the Tayna Model to Two New Projects in North Kivu: As a result of the success of the Tayna Gorilla Reserve, the Mwamis, traditional sector and village Chiefs, and landowners from within two territories neighboring Tayna have also organized community-based conservation projects modeled after Tayna in which they wish to create biodiversity reserves: 1) ReCoPriBa in the Walikale Territory; and 2) ILSN in Masisi Territory (Figure 3). DFGFI signed conservation partnerships with these projects in December and September 2001, respectively.
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With the generous support of our members, both these projects are receiving temporary financial support for their conservation activities, while DFGFI staff seek out longer-term funding. Each project has received NGO status from the government, and with DFGFI support, begun expeditions and surveys, and started conservation education programs in the field. Both of these areas still contain populations of eastern lowland gorillas and they are contiguous with each other and the Tayna Reserve. A recent site visit in May 2002 by Dr. Mehlman has revealed that the biodiversity signature for the Walikale region appears to be quite similar to Tayna, i.e., there are still substantial expanses of primary forest and healthy gorilla populations. The situation for Masisi, however, is much different. Although much primary forest still remains, it appears to be over-hunted, and for example, gorilla distribution is limited to three small areas (Figure 4). We do believe, however, that it does have potential for a biodiversity reserve. If the area between the southern boundary of gorilla distribution in Walikale and the remaining gorilla groups in Masisi is gazetted as a community reserve, we believe there is good potential for recovery of the mammal populations, including gorillas. For example, currently, chimpanzee distribution is continuous within the gap of gorilla distribution.
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DFGFI member support for these two new reserve projects in North Kivu will thus lay the groundwork for establishing two more reserves, which together with Tayna, will provide a large conservation corridor that will stretch from the Masisi territory through Walikale territory, contain the Tayna Gorilla Reserve, and with the latter's intended buffer zone, will be contiguous with the Maiko National Park. This area will provide protection for as many as 780 eastern lowland gorillas, as well as more than 1,700 km2 of Afromontane forest zones. The establishment of this conservation corridor is essential for large endangered mammals such as the gorilla, chimpanzee, and forest elephant. This will provide for contiguity of movement and genetic contact between what are now fragmented populations of these species, ensuring their long-term survival.
In May 2002, DFGFI hosted a field workshop for the ReCoPriBa and ILSN projects at the village of Pinga in North Kivu (Figure 4). Local people from throughout the region traveled as much as three days to participate in the workshop. Dr. Mehlman and Coordinator Kakale gave presentations on conservation activities in the region and conducted a questionnaire that included 117 inhabitants living in areas near gorillas and intact forest. Each of the two projects conducted an education and awareness raising presentation that included role-playing skits and community discussions. This workshop was followed by a site visit into nearby forest, where Dr. Mehlman, with field staff from ReCoPriBa and ILSN, tracked a group of 11 gorillas.
DFGFI began limited financial support for these projects immediately after they became partners. After the recent site visit, evaluation, and workshop, in July 2002, DFGFI began providing a regular monthly budget for these projects, which will enable their field staff to begin mapping of gorilla and primary forest distribution, as well as to start an education and awareness raising campaign with local people living in the forests.
Applying the Tayna Model in South Kivu: DFGFI signed a partnership in December 2001 with a community-based conservation project working in the Itombwe massive, entitled the ACPN. In Itombwe, scientific surveys as recent as 1994-1995 found a surface area of 6000 km2 of Afromontane forest where as many 900 eastern lowland gorillas survived*11. The Itombwe massive in South Kivu has received much more scientific attention than the DFGFI target areas in North Kivu, and contains some of the highest numbers of endemic species in the Albertine Rift*12. The ACPN is working within a sector of Itombwe, the Mwenga Territory, within which census figures from 1994 estimated that 690 gorillas existed. The area that the ACPN has identified to be gazetted as a biodiversity reserve covers approximately 1600 km2 ; a DFGFI sponsored census planned later for this year should provide estimates of the remaining gorilla population.
DFGFI financial support for this community-based project has been ongoing, with a regular monthly budget that began in July 2002. Continued DFGFI member support for this project, which has the support of the Mwamis (Traditional Chiefs) and the local populace in the region, will ensure enduring and sustainable biodiversity protection for this portion of the Itombwe Massif.
DFGFI CAP Aids the ICCN Congo: The ICCN (Institut Congolais pour la Protection de la Nature) is the governmental organization charged with responsibility of managing all conservation activities in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The ICCN, for example, provides protection and monitoring of the mountain gorillas in the Congo Virunga National Park, contiguous with the Rwandan Volcanoes National Park, where the DFGFI Karisoke Research Center operates.
DFGFI, in a second collaborative effort with international conservation organizations (WWF, WCS, IGCP, AWF), and under the auspices of a UNESCO/UNF supported program for World Heritage Sites in DRC, entitled Conservation of Biodiversity during Armed Conflict, provides financial support for the ICCN. In April 2002, CAP DFGFI provided a small one-year grant to ICCN, which enabled it rent office space for one year, and to purchase furniture and computer equipment. Further financial support for the ICCN will be provided for 2002-2003 via the "NGO Common Pool", a consortium of conservation organizations who work in Eastern Congo.
Footnotes
*1 "Afromontane Forest": F. White (1983) The Vegetation of Africa UNESCO, AETFAT and Unso, Paris, France. This forest generally occurs above 1500 m, and is dominated by the genera Diospyrus, Entandrophragma, Ficalhoa, Olea, Parinari, Podocarpus, Prunus, Syzygium, etc. Although the Afromontane forest zone accounts for most of the surface area of the Albertine Highlands, there are also important areas of "Upper Montane Forest" above 2400 m, dominated by broad-leaved species of Hagenia, Macaranga, Podocarpus, Rapanea, and stands of bamboo, Synarundinara, and a few areas above 3000 m (see Figure 1), where vegetation cover transitions to scrub (Ericaceae family) and montane grasslands, with some trees, such as Hagenia absyssinica persisting.
*2 Endemic species: species that only found in one specific ecoregion, such as the Albertine Rift; sometimes ecologists also identify "near-endemic" species, which are those whose range centers on a region, but exceeds into neighboring regions (e.g., species whose ranges are centered in the Albertine Rift, but whose distributions extend into the Congo Basin).
*3 further reading on paleoecological "refuge theory" can be found in: 1) Hamilton A (1988) Guenon evolution and forest history, pp 13-24 in A Primate Radiation, eds. Gautier-Hion A, Bourliere F, Gautier J, Kingdon J, University Press Cambridge; 2) Maley J (1996) The African rainforest-main characteristics of changes in vegetation and climate from the upper Cretaceous to the Quaternary. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, UK 104BB:31-73; 3) Pomeroy D (1993) Centres of high biodiversity in Africa. Conservation Biology 7:901-907; and 4) Kingdon J (1980) The role of visual signals and face patterns in African forest monkeys (guenons) of the genus Cercopithecus. Transactions of the Zoological Society, London 35:425-475.
*4 M. Jensen-Seaman and K. Kidd (2001) Mitochondrial DNA variation and biography of eastern gorillas Molecular Ecology 10:2241-2247.
*5 Redmond I (2001) Coltan boom, gorilla bust. Gorilla Journal 22: 13-16.
*6 Hall J, White L, Inowabini BI, Omari I, Simons-Morland H, Williamson E et al. (1998) Survey of Grauer's gorillas (Gorilla gorilla graueri) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) in the Kahuzi-Biega National Park lowland sector and adjacent forest in eastern Zaire. International Journal of Primatology 19: 207-235; also see Hall J, Saltonstall K, Inogwabini BI, Omari I (1998b) Distribution, abundance and conservation status of Grauer's gorilla (Gorilla gorilla graueri). Oryx 32: 122-130.
*7 Redmond I (2001) Coltan boom, gorilla bust. Gorilla Journal 22: 13-16.
*8 Draulans D, Van Krunkoisven (2001) The impact of war on forest areas in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Oryx 36(1) 35-40.
*9 Bishikwabo K (2001) Gorillas without elephants? A query for research. Gorilla Journal 22: 17;
*10 These categories of threatened species, such as endangered, vulnerable, etc. originate from the Red List, published by the IUCN- The World Conservation Union, see website at IUCN.org (/themes/ssc/redlists).
*11 Omari I, Hart J, Butynski T, Birhashirwa N, Upoki A, M'Keyo Y, Bengana F, Bashongo M, Bagurubumwe N (1999) The Itombwe Massif, Democratic Republic of Congo: biological surveys and conservation, with an emphasis on Graueri's gorilla and birds emdemic to the Albertine Rift. Orxy 33(4):301-322; also see Doumenge C (1998) Forest diversity, distribution, and dynamique in the Itombwe mountains, South Kivu, Congo Democratic Republic. Mountain Research and Development 18(3):249-264.
