Conservationist Shot In Africa's Oldest Nature Preserve
By editor
Originally published on Sun April 20, 2014 11:53 am
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin. In the
Democratic Republic of Congo this past week, a noted conservationist
is recovering from gunshot wounds after an attack by unknown
assailants. Forty-three-year-old Emmanuel de Merode is a Belgian
Prince. He is also the director of Africa's oldest nature preserve,
Virunga National Park. It's a world heritage site and one of the most
bio diverse places on Earth. Nearly a quarter of the world's
critically endangered mountain gorillas live in the park.
Allard Blom is the managing director of Congo Basin at the World
Wildlife Fund and a former colleague of de Merode. He says Virunga
National Park has the potential to bring in much-needed tourist
revenue to the Congo, but decades of conflict make that difficult.
ALLARD BLOM: Tourism has the potential to generate significant
revenue. Just across the border is the park in Rwanda where you can
also visit the mountain gorillas, and it's one of the biggest foreign
currency earnings for the Rwandan government. So tourism can be a
significant contributor to local development there in that region. And
at Virunga National Park, you know, the wars made tourism really a
dicey enterprise.
MARTIN: Can you describe how that insecurity is creating problems
within the park? There's poachers. There are also militias that are
using the park as a sanctuary of sorts.
BLOM: That is correct. The park has seen a lot of conflict. The
militias have taken up residence in the park. Of course, poachers are
an important category of people that provide insecurity. There's also
people who go for the charcoal, so deforestation. Charcoal is the
major source of energy in a city like Goma, which is the regional
capital. Security was, until, you know, I would say three to six
months ago, when things really started improving, was a major problem.
However, it is definitely been improving to such an extent that the
park has been reopened for tourism.
MARTIN: When we think about park rangers in this country, we think
about people who are intimately knowledgeable about trails and
wildlife and plant life, not people who are working in conflict zones.
How do rangers operate there in that park? What do they have to be
prepared for?
BLOM: You know, a lot of these poachers are very heavily armed. Their
favorite weapon of choice is the AK-47, or Kalashnikov. So the rangers
have also military training and are basically conducting patrols on a
more military-style tactics than what would be normally considered for
park personnel. It is definitely a very dangerous job. Many Rangers
have been killed over the years and not only in Virunga, but in some
of the other parks in Africa, as well.
MARTIN: How have the gorillas fared through all of this violence and
strife and instability?
BLOM: I mean, the mountain gorilla is really conversation success
story, particularly given the fact that this is the one of the most
unstable parts of the world and has seen a lot of violence. Mountain
gorilla numbers have actually increased during all that time. Some of
the militia have actively helped protect them, particularly the notion
of the M23, who actually stopped fighting last year. And they - in
fact, when they were controlling a large part of the park, they
started gorilla tourism up themselves, so just to see how valuable
they consider those gorillas.
MARTIN: There is this moment, as you describe it, of optimism about
the park's security. Things have been getting better. The gorilla
population has been growing. So I imagine this attack on Mr. de Merode
is coming as quite a setback of sorts.
BLOM: Yes, of course. I mean, first of all, on the personal level, I
know him well. And you know, it's always a shock to hear something
like that happening. But then, as I mentioned, Virunga is such a
special place. It is a stunning, beautiful park. Tourism could bring
in a lot of jobs and money. You know, we still don't know who was
behind his attack. Was it random or it was actually targeted? We don't
even know that. Yes, a setback, but I don't think it's the end of the
road. I think we - there is optimism.
MARTIN: Allard Blom is the managing director of the Congo Basin at the
World Wildlife Fund. Thanks so much for talking with us.
BLOM: You're welcome. It was a great pleasure. Transcript provided by
NPR, Copyright NPR.
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