The last stand of the gorilla: environmental crime and conflict in the Congo Basin: a rapid response assessment

Gorillas are under renewed threat across the Congo Basin: poaching for bushmeat, loss of habitat due to agricultural expansion, degradation of habitat from logging, mining and charcoal production are amongst these threats. This report warns that gorillas in Congo Basin are at even greater risk than expected less than a decade ago. It notes that with the rate of poaching and habitat loss, gorillas in the region may disappear from most of their present range in less than 10–15 years from now.

However, new protected areas have been created and international cross boundary collaboration on environmental crime and improved management of some protected areas in the region are scoring some successes.

In order to halt this destructive cycle and widen the successes, the paper makes the following recommendations: 

• resources and training for law enforcement personnel and rangers must be substantially increased; this includes direct support to international bodies with mandates for international law enforcement 
• bushmeat hunters, traders and consumers must be encouraged to operate within the law, and overall consumption must be brought down to a sustainable level
• there is an urgent need to further strengthen trans-boundary collaboration, including with and between countries and companies who are recipients of these natural resources
• the UN peacekeeping operation may halt the underlying illegal extraction of resources that finance the rebel militias in Congo Basin by conducting full control of border crossings
• it is necessary to establish a fund for supporting trans-boundary investigation and collaboration on trans-national environmental crime 
• the need for strengthened funding for gorilla /research and survey data should be supported.