Wildlife Conservation Society helps Cameroon create new nat...(arkets by local trains. This effort in p...)

Date:2/18/2009

arkets by local trains. This effort in part has helped Cameroon uphold its obligations as a member nation of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). In late November of 2008, WCS helped Cameroon to create Takamanda National Park, which now forms part of an important trans-boundary protected area with Nigeria's Cross River National Park and protects the Cross River gorilla.

The western lowland gorilla is the most populous of the four gorilla subspecies. Last year, WCS scientists discovered more than 125,000 western lowland gorillas in the northern Republic of Congo. Other subspecies include: eastern lowland or "Grauer's" gorillas, restricted to eastern Democratic Republic of Congo; mountain gorillas, made famous by Dian Fossey and George Schaller; and Cross River gorillas, which number fewer than 300 individuals along the border region of Cameroon and Nigeria. WCS works to safeguard all four subspecies of gorilla, all of which are classified as "critically endangered" or "endangered" by the IUCN Red List.

Cameroon is one of seven African nations supported by the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP) and the Central African Regional Program for the Environment (CARPE). The U.S. government acting through the Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has invested more than $60 million in biodiversity conservation in the Congo Basin. Together, this support has augmented funds for great apes conservation in the region through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service administered Great Apes Conservation Fund. Since 2001, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has invested more than $13 million for the conservation of gorillas, chimpanzees, and other great apes and has leveraged more than $17 million in private donations and matching funds. The Great Apes Conservation Fund Act, which authorizes this fund, expires in 2010. WCS wil
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Contact: John Delaney jdelaney@wcs.org 718-220-3275 Wildlife Conservation Society Source:Eurekalert

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