Illegal deforestation has destroyed important mountain gorilla habitat within Africa's Virunga National Park, conservation groups reported on Monday.
The park, located in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on the border with Rwanda and Uganda, is home to more than half the remaining 700 mountain gorillas.
The mountain gorilla, made famous through the research of Dian Fossey and the Hollywood movie "Gorillas in the Mist," is one of the world's most critically endangered species.
According to several conservation groups, including WWF and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), some 6,000 people - most from Rwanda - moved into and deforested about six square miles of Virunga National Park from early May to June.
The settlers moved into the area to farm illegally in the park with support from influential local individuals who and paid for land to be cleared, the conservation groups reported.
The forest was entirely cut down and turned into timber or charcoal before crops were planted; cleared areas are now being used for agriculture and livestock.
The area of the park where the gorillas live is only 164 square miles and further encroachment or habitat loss could be devastating, conservationists say.
A young mountain gorilla (Photo by Martin Harvey courtesy WWF-Canon)
Habitat loss is "the worst threat to this species," said Marc Languy, coordinator of WWF's program in the Albertine Rift. "What is happening in Virunga is a disaster."
The situation in Virunga is not a new one for conservationists, who have scrambled in the past decade to protect the mountain gorilla from political tension and conflict in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Refugees from the Rwandan genocide of 1994 set up massive camps on the edge of the park, which faced further pressures from warring factions, illegal settlers and refugees during Congo's civil war from 1997 to 2002.
Rebels sought refuge in the heavily forested areas of the park and the tensions between the DRC and Congo continue to plague conservation efforts. Some 60 percent of the park boundaries are densely populated and there is great potential for future poaching and illegal settling within the park.
The conservationists say international assistance is critical to fund park patrols, the peaceful evacuation of illegal settlers, and the restoration of destroyed areas.
"This small forest island is one of only two places on Earth where mountain gorillas exist," said Dr. Andrew Plumptre, director of WCS's Albertine Rift Program. "Park authorities from both the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda have given the world a fine example of how to conserve wildlife over the past 30 years in the most challenging of circumstances, but they need outside support more now than ever."
A key part of the effort is protection of park staff, said Dr. Terese Hart, director of WCS's Congo Program.
"In the last month, three parks staff have been murdered by men in uniform elsewhere in the park and it is of grave concern that the Government of Congo is unable to protect these brave men," Hart said.
The heavily forested slopes of extinct volcanos of the Virunga Range are home to more than half the world's mountain gorillas. (Photo by Martin Harvey courtesy WWF-Canon)
There are some positive signs for gorilla advocates - the land clearing appears to have stopped and many of the latest wave of illegal settlers seem to have removed themselves from the area.
But Dr. Peter Stephenson, coordinator of WWF's African Great Apes Program, warns "if clear instructions are not given by the highest levels of government in Rwanda and the DRC to their local authorities, the destruction will restart and expand even further."
There is more at stake than the mountain gorilla. The park is a World Heritage Site and is considered one of the most important conservation areas in Africa.
The park is inhabited by than 700 species of birds and more than 200 species of mammals, including the extremely rare golden monkey, which exists in the lower elevation forests that are being cleared for settlement.
The illegal clearing of the park is also "a loss for the local communities as the forest provides many ecological and economical services to the neighboring population, and many local people benefit from gorilla tourism revenues," Languy said.
Mountain gorillas generate about $2 million from tourism annually for Congo, Rwanda and Uganda.
The renewed fears of deforestation come on the heels of some good news for gorilla advocates.
Earlier this year, park officials from Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo and other conservationists announced a 17 percent increase in the Virunga's mountain gorilla population to 380 individuals.
As many as 15 of the Virunga's mountain gorillas may have been killed since the outbreak of civil war in 1990. (Photo by Martin Harvey courtesy WWF-Canon)
The only other known population of mountain gorillas lives in Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park.
A subspecies of eastern gorilla, the mountain gorilla was first identified in 1902, and many feared it would become extinct in the same century in which it was discovered. Uncontrolled hunting, destruction of its forest habitat, and capture for the illegal pet trade caused a steep decline in numbers.
The current population of some 700 mountain gorillas has grown from 620 in 1989.
