Mountain gorillas growing fortunes - 14th January 2022

Mountain gorilla conservation projects are a success story. Since the 1980s, gorilla numbers have risen from just 100 to over 1,000.

However, this success has brought gorillas new problems. National parks in the Virunga Mountains, which stretch across Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, are their key habitat. But these, like Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda, have been shrinking while their numbers rise.

Prosper Uwingeli's head of the park.

Prosper Uwingeli: "We have seen challenges, and the challenges of the habitat. Because in the past 60, 50 years, the park lost 54 percent of the size of the park. And when our effort were put in a place to – for the mountain gorilla population to, to recover to the current numbers, you know, the habitat has not changed."

The growing gorilla groups are competing for space. This results in violent clashes where adults and baby gorillas have died. Felix Ndagjimana's the Rwanda director of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund.

Felix Ndagijimana: "The interactions themselves changed in the sense that they became very violent, and during this period, we recorded seven silverbacks' death. So that's again is a consequence of more groups ranging in the same area – really not expanding and going to, to the rest of the park. And that leading to more intergroup interactions, and then more infanticides."

While tourism's supported conservation efforts, it's brought negative impacts too. Gorillas no longer fear humans and wander into villages looking for food. This risks gorillas catching human diseases like flu and Ebola. Therefore, plans to expand Volcanoes National Park involve moving humans off some land.

A compensation fund uses 10 percent of gorilla tourism revenues to benefit the local community. This supports farmers, builds schools and prevents attacks on gorillas. It's designed to shift traditional worries about gorillas. Projects encourage an alternative view – of how gorillas benefit the community.