Virunga Gorillas: update 28th September 2007
First of all a big, huge thank you to those of you who have given so generously in aid of the thousands of people in the Congo, and so alleviating pressure on the Virunga National Park - home to some of the last and highly endangered mountain gorillas.
So far your generosity has helped enormously. In order for you to keep track of how your money is helping here is an update on the situation on the ground...
Recently more people have arrived at the camps and we have carried out more thorough appraisals of the situation.
We estimate that nearly 13,000 households - that’s about 65,000 people - have now have settled in the camps - one of which extends into the park.
With more people arriving, firewood is still an acute issue.
Family members, in most cases women and girls, are being sent into the surrounding bushes or forests, including the park, to collect wood. This is dangerous, difficult and tiring for the girls - and is placing increasing pressure on the Park's forests.
Your donations, along with other emergency appeal funds, are therefore being urgently used to provide wood to the camps for the next month to alleviate the situation.
The wood that we have bought so far with your donations is ready to be distributed to the people as soon as transport arrives.
(WWF will also facilitate the re-planting of all plantations that have been sourced for firewood.)
Nobody knows how long these camps will exist, but it’s likely they will be there for several months. Your assistance has meant WWF can help cover some of the interim firewood needs of the camps until the UN takes over paying for the fuel supplies.
Once again – thank you for your generous and timely support. It has reached us here on the ground and is helping to alleviate a very serious situation. Although we are still in a critical position - with more people arriving we need to buy more firewood - the situation would be even worse without your support.
We – YOU - are having a positive and very real impact on the ground.
THANK YOU!
Bruno Hugel
Chargé de Monitoring & Evaluation
WWF-PEVi
Goma
RDCongo
28th September 2007
