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Should we save gorillas or people

Category: Gorillas | Date: Jan 09 2009 | By: baraza

The United Nations have declared 2009 the Year of the Gorilla – and there is a call for actions from everyone to participate in global efforts to save gorillas.

Bonane

Some journalists are questioning the morality ofsaving gorillas while people continue to suffer in Congo, Rwanda and Uganda. When in Rwanda I attended the Kwita Izina Gorilla Naming ceremony – a national event, after which I met a famous doctor who is rebuilding the medical infrastructure of the country. He had been invited to Rwandas exclusive tourism lodge on the edge of the Volcano National Park, where a visitor pays $2,000 per night.  A stones throw away he told me he had been treating a community for common diseases, malaria, typhoid, cholera. The lodge made him very angry he said, because all attention was on the gorillas, not the people who live around the park.  Less than 20% of the proceeds from gorilla tourism trickle down to these communities, some of the poorest in Africa and very densely populated.

Poverty in Rwanda next to the park

He told me about the pitiful health status of people living around the protected areas and asked me how conservationists could promote community conservation when communities were suffering so severely, not only in Rwanda but in Congo, Uganda and even Kenya. He asked me how tourism could promote the image of Masai with their two lower teeth bashed out, a romantic image, a reflection of failure to prevent tetanus or lock jaw, a deadly and painful bacterial infection that causes muscle fiberes to shorten until the jaw cannot open (Listen to Lion Guardian Anthony Kasangas podcast here). Poverty he implied, must not become a tourist attraction.

Anthony Kasangas gap between his lower teeth

Then Paul Farmer and I had a huge (friendly) argument in which he two accused me directly of having my priorities completely wrong. I accused him of failing to comprehend that human health and living standards are directly affected by the state of the environment. We didn’t see eye to eye … and I wondered who was being stubborn. The solution is not, and can never be, to simply be to get rid of parks and conservation areas for the sake of giving more people land. In such cases the problems are only delayed, and then exacerbated once the land is once again over utilized. It just does not make sense to me that we should permit people to destroy a national asset that would take decades to recover, just to feed a population for a few days or weeks.  Rwanda is hugely is a tiny country that is overpopulated - even if people are allowed into the few parks it will not allevaite the problem in any appreciable way.

But not everyone agrees. In a recent thought provoking article Alex Halperin reminds us that Rwanda is staking its economy on gorillas. To protect this national asset the authorities go to great lengths to kept the gorillas safe and healthy, mainly by restricting human contact, especially with poor villagers who are not allowed into the National Park to forage for natural resources. So, while the national economy benefits, the local population pays the cost.

In Seatlepi blog Robert McClure asks if saving gorillas in a poor country is sustainable. Read the Halperin article here and tell us what you think.

Oh, and if you haven’t already done it, don’t forget Sheryls birthday gift. Thanks to everyone who has already made a contribution!

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5 Responses to “Should we save gorillas or people”

Brenton H, on 09 Jan 2009

In a just world there is room for everyone, human and the vast majority of others. People of affluence have a responsibility to assist both human, animal and plant. All living creatures have a right to existence. I have changed my life to do without things that I do not want and to try to help those both human and animal who are in need. It is very satisfying and I am enriched by helping others whom I will probably never meet or experience in anyway. The very thought of ‘Gorilla’ roaming free in the forests is enough for me!

sheryl, washington, dc, on 09 Jan 2009

Well, you know I’m in favor of saving an endangered species over a non-endangered one. This whole idea that humans are more important that any other species on the planet just pisses me off on a daily basis. If we save human beings to the detriment of all other species, then how will human beings survive on a planet devoid of non-human animal life and plant life? How will we survive when we’ve raped the oceans of every living thing, including those plants and animals we depend on for medicines? How will we survive when we cover every inch of this planet like a plague because we’ve spent all our resources saving ourselves and nothing else?

There is no balance on this planet as evidenced by the influence of human activities on global climate change and the daily disappearance of plant and non-human animal species. We are not a superior species when what we’ve done is overpopulate every area to the point where, now, we’re just consuming and not replenishing and not protecting all other life on Earth?

IMO, anyone who argues that a gorilla life, or any other life, is less important than a human life cannot see the dwindling forest for the trees! It’s arrogant and short-sighted and, ultimately, our destruction.

s.

Wanda - Atlanta, on 09 Jan 2009

Take a look at us here in the U.S. and what overpopulation and extravagance has caused - our animals live in zoo’s and sanctuary’s - we fight day an night to save a tree and a forest - our waters and oceans are polluted from boats and homes on the coast lines for the freedom of the people to live and build homes where they want to — just look at “us” and there is your answer! Save your gorilla’s the people will survive!

Tjitske, on 10 Jan 2009

In my opinion, the world should restrict all families to one child per family, as the world is totally overpopulated and cannot sustain itself. If the greedy corrupt poisonous overpopulated human species was addressed, nature would be able to take care of itself, without any problems. All problems on the planet start with humans, who think they know better than God or nature… if humans started behaving as animals do, we would all be living better lives… when man stops being arrogant and stops thinking he is God, then the planet might have a hope… if it were me, all families would be on birth control… and then the planet might stand a chance… for all species. We must save the gorillas, and all species… gorillas have souls, emotions, feelings, and needs just as much as any other species… humans are in no way superior to any animal or bird or plant or any other organism…

Timi, on 11 Jan 2009

I have been thinking of this so many times over the years. When it comes to the gorillas in Virunga in particular, I see a way to possibly find a common ground. The way I have understood it, the ecosystem of Virunga mountains sustains a large area around it with the water that its rain forests feed into rivers. It is vital to the people living around the mountains that the ecosystem with its rain forests keeps on providing the much needed water. To protect the ecosystem is all to the benefit to the people who depend on the water. As much as I hope that the tourism industry’s profits would be directed to the local people, I believe that even if none of it is, the conservation of the Virungas still benefits these people, just by being there, and producing the water they need.

Now, to protect the ecosystem, we need, among lots of other things, a way to measure the state, the vitality of the forest. One of the many ways to measure its vitality is to use some specific animal and plant species - if these species do well, then we know the ecosystem is doing well. For this measure-stick purpose, we can choose from among many species, but the gorillas are the most notable candidate. They cannot be the only one, as a carnivore species, higher in the food chain, is definitely needed as a measure-stick. The gorillas, however, are the species that has the highest market value in soliciting attention, support and funding. They are the mannequin species of the Virungas. To protect gorillas, you have to protect the ecosystem, and to protect the ecosystem does translate to protection of the local people.

Am I exaggerating the value of the rain forest to local economy?

PS. I don’t like answering to an anonymous blogger. I have no idea of who is using the pseudonym “baraza”, or even if it is always a different person. It doesn’t matter that much when the tone of the blog is less personal, but this one is worded in such a personal manner, that is really irks me that the author remains behind the mysterious pseudonym. The subject matter just happened to be so important that I wanted to reply anyway.

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