![]() ![]() To lead these efforts, Stoinski draws on her background in science, including a master’s degree in zoology from Oxford, a Ph.D. In addition, the Fossey Fund has signed a 25-year agreement with the community to manage Nkuba as a conservation area. Also key is “addressing why people are so dependent on the forest in the first place.” That means creating programs that advance food security and economic health-from the cultivation of protein-rich, fast-growing mushrooms to fish farming to beekeeping to bread baking. Getting the land recognized is only one piece of the puzzle, said Stoinski. At 2,400 square kilometers, Nkuba is now five times the size of the mountain gorillas’ Virunga habitat. ![]() ![]() Over the last 10 years, the organization has partnered with local groups to create Nkuba Conservation Area, a community-protected forest, and to seek formal recognition for it from the Congolese government. To increase ape stability, the Fossey Fund looks for ways to support human stability. “We still have beautiful habitat, but the animals-and not just gorillas, but chimps and elephants -have been impacted by decades of civil unrest.” Conflict minerals are mined extracts such as gold and cobalt (used for electric car batteries) that are sometimes sold to fund fighting. Estimates suggest that about 60% of the Grauer’s gorilla population has been lost in the last 25 years, “a direct result of poaching, driven by extreme poverty, by conflict, by conflict minerals,” Stoinski said. Unlike mountain gorillas, all of whom live within a national park, most of Congo’s Grauer’s gorillas live on lands with no formal protection. The Fossey Fund expanded there 20 years ago to address the dwindling population of another subspecies of gorilla, known as Grauer’s gorillas. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, conservation involves a whole different set of challenges. While the Rwandan government is looking at expanding the park by buying back land sold off decades ago for agriculture, Stoinski said, that’s not a definite or quick fix. “In a larger habitat or with more individuals, that kind of change could have a smaller effect on the survival of the species.” “If you have one natural disaster that comes through-a forest fire, for example-or one pandemic that gets into the population, when you’re starting out with so few individuals in such a small space, it means they’re more susceptible,” Stoinski said. ![]()
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