Tshiaberimu

Category: Gorillas, Rangers, Tshiaberimu | Date: May 19 2009 | By: tshiaberimu

Hi this is Jean-Claude, 

Attacks against the guards of the Virunga National Park have increasingly grown over the last few years and as a result we’ve decided to come up with a three-pronged approach, which we hope will help the situation.

The strategies being implemented include: 

1)    Capacity building: To deal with the increasing violence we ideally need more men, and men who are better trained, who know how to deal with conflict when it does arise. Hopefully training the rangers can aid their safety, ensuring they are better equipped to deal with attacks. 

2)    Reducing conflicts: If we can stem the cause of the conflict among local people and create awareness about what the rangers are doing, we can hopefully create a sense of empathy. The initiative also hopes to educate the public and local leaders about the importance of the rangers’ role in protecting gorillas and gorilla habitat.

 3)    Administrative Authority: We hope to educate both the general public and local leaders (chiefs, mayors, local politicians) about issues surrounding the allocation of land. In the past local politicians have pledged to allocate areas of the national park to local people so they can grow food. When these promises have not materialised local people have become unsettled, which has occasionally resulted in violence towards the rangers protecting the park (as has been documented in previous posts). We hope to raise awareness among community leaders about the devastating effects such promises can have, as well as educating the general public to be wary of such exaggerated statements. 

A combination of the above, we hope, will result in a safer, more peaceful, park.