Mountain Gorilla PHVA Final Report 1997

CAN THE MOUNTAIN GORILLA SURVIVE? Population and Habitat Viability Assessment for Gorilla gorilla beringei Kampala, Uganda 8 - 12 December, 1997 S. Werikhe, L. Macfie, N. Rosen, and P. Miller, editors A Collaborative Workshop: Uganda Wildlife Authority Office Rwandais de Tourisme et Parcs Nationaux Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature The Primate Specialist Group (SSC/IUCN) The Conservation Breeding Specialist Group (SSC/IUCN) Sponsors: Columbus Zoo International Gorilla Conservation Programme Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund Europe Wildlife Conservation Society Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust Abercrombie & Kent A contribution of the IUCN/SSC Conservation Breeding Specialist Group in conjunction with the Uganda WildlifeAuthority (UWA), Office Rwandais de Tourisme et Parcs Nationaux (ORTPN), Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN), and the Primate Specialist Group. Sponsors of this PHVA workshop were The Columbus Zoo, The International Gorilla Conservation Programme, The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund Europe, The Wildlife Conservation Society, The Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust, and Abercrombie & Kent. Cover Photo: Maturing silverback male courtesy of Martha Robbins Cover and Section Divider Illustration: Steven Nash Werikhe, S., Macfie, L., Rosen, N., and P. Miller. 1998. Can the Mountain Gorilla Survive? Population and Habitat Viability Assessment Workshop for Gorilla gorilla beringei. CBSG, Apple Valley, MN. Additional copies of this publication can be ordered through the IUCN/SSC Conservation Breeding Specialist Group, 12101 Johnny Cake Ridge Road, Apple Valley, MN 55124. Send checks for US $35.00 (for printing and shipping costs) payable to CBSG; checks must be drawn on a US Bank. Credit card payment by Visa or MasterCard is also acceptable. DONORS We spotted from our camp a group of black, large apes, which attempted to climb to the highest peak of the volcano. Of these apes we managed to shoot two, which fell with much noise into a canyon opening to the northeast of us. After five hours of hard work, we managed to haul up one of these animals with ropes. It was a large, man-like ape, a male, about 1½ m. high and weighing over 200 pounds. The chest without hair, the hands and feet of huge size. I could unfortunately not determine the genus of the ape. He was for a chimpanzee of a previously unknown size, and the presence of gorillas in the Lake region has as yet not been determined. Report of Captain Oscar von Beringe while climbing Mt. Sabinio in the Virunga Volcanoes region, October 17, 1902. Reprinted from The Mountain Gorilla: Ecology and Behavior Can The Mountain Gorilla Survive? POPULATION AND HABITAT VIABILITY ASSESSMENT (PHVA) FOR Gorilla gorilla beringei TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Executive Summary and Recommendations 3 2. Introduction 23 3. Mountain Gorilla Health and Disease 37 4. Human Population Issues 53 5. Population Biology and Simulation Modeling 71 6: Protected Area Management and Research 109 7: Governance 123 8: Revenue, Finances and Economics 129 9: List of Workshop Participants 145 10: Selected Gorilla Bibliography 151 11: IUCN Guidelines 165 12: VORTEX Reference 187 Table of Contents vii viii Table of Contents Population and Habitat Viability Assessment for Gorilla gorilla beringei 8 – 12 December 1997 Kampala, Uganda Section Executive Summary and Recommendations 1 Mountain Gorilla Population and Habitat Viability Assessment Executive Summary Introduction Gorillas are found in east central Africa and equatorial west Africa.One of the three gorilla subspecies, the mountain gorilla (Gorilla gorilla beringei), is restricted in its distribution to two small populations: one of about 300 individuals in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda, and the other of about 320 animals in the Virunga Volcanoes region. The Virungas region includes Mgahinga Gorilla National Park (Uganda), Parc National des Volcans (Rwanda), and Parc National des Virunga (Democratic Republic of Congo). There is currently some debate concerning the taxonomic continuity of these two populations; morphological and genetic analysis have not yet reached consensus. While the taxonomic debate continues, we recognize these two populations as distinct management units that may require individual attention unique to their ecological and geopolitical environments. Consequently, we will continue to refer to these populations as mountain gorillas throughout this text. The distribution of the mountain gorilla is entirely within National Parks, but there are serious threats to these ecologically vital afromontane and medium altitude forest habitats. Historically, hunting and poaching resulted in a rapid decline of the Virungas population from which it has not yet recovered. The continuing civil unrest and outright armed conflict in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (former Zaire) is producing many thousands of refugees who are encroaching into the Parc des Volcans and the Parc des Virunga areas. Current rates of deforestation for firewood collection and building materials are likely to cause permanent habitat damage in the very near future. Uganda’s Mgahinga National Park also has suffered from these unsustainable land-use practices. Moreover, the dangerous situation in Rwanda has prevented any protection, conservation, or research efforts since August 1997, the longest period in recent history that the Virunga gorillas have been unmonitored and unprotected (i.e., no anti-poaching patrols). The potentially rapid rate of habitat destruction in the National Parks resulting from this crisis situation will result in a decline in mountain gorilla population size and a long-term reduction in the viability of the subspecies as a whole. There is a need for a systematic evaluation of mountain gorilla population viability and development of a regional management plan that incorporates the needs of all relevant governmental, non-governmental agencies, public and private stakeholders. The Conservation Breeding Specialist Group, in collaboration with the Primate Specialist Group, was invited by the Director of Uganda Wildlife Authority, the Office Rwandais de Tourisme et Parcs Nationaux, and the Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature to conduct a PHVA for the mountain gorilla in December, 1997 in Kampala, Uganda. Participants included biologists, researchers, and wildlife managers from Uganda, Congo and Rwanda, and international experts on mountain gorilla population biology and ecology. Approximately 79 people participated in the Workshop with 52 people attending the entire 5 days. Full time participants included 26 nationals from the range states. There were 17 participants with expertise in Rwanda, 6 in Congo, 24 in Uganda and 14 with regional expertise. Eighteen people were from protected area authorities and 16 from NGOs active in range management. The Executive Summary and Recommendations 3 workshop received generous sponsorship from the Columbus Zoo, the International Gorilla Conservation Programme, the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund Europe, the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, the Wildlife Conservation Society, Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust, and Abercrombie and Kent. While the workshop was held in Uganda, the focus of the process was a regional approach with respect to management needs, governance, finances, research, species biology, habitat requirements, health needs, and threat assessment. This approach can be successfully implemented only through continued cooperation between all range-country organizations. The objectives of the PHVA workshop process were to assist local managers and policy makers to: 1) formulate priorities for a practical management program for survival, recovery, and long term viability of the two mountain gorilla populations in their wild habitat; 2) develop a risk analysis and population simulation model for the mountain gorilla which can be used to guide and evaluate management and research activities; 3) identify specific habitat areas that should be afforded strict levels of protection and management; 4) identify and initiate useful technology transfer and training; and 5) identify and recruit potential collaborators from central Africa as well as the greater international community. On the first day, after overview presentations, the entire group engaged in a problems and needs identification exercise. All participants individually contributed to generate a list of about 130 items recorded on flip chart paper to provide an ongoing record of the ideas. This list provided a series of themes that served to guide the formation of six working groups in the afternoon of the first day. The entire group participated in the formulation of these groups. These working groups, whose reports provide the body of this report, began the first afternoon to group the problems into a smaller set of categories or topics which were used for more intensive description and analysis. This process initially appeared very chaotic and confused to observers but on the second day, as the members of the group learned to work together, a strong focus on selected high priority problems emerged in each group. The groups then developed a series of actions that might be used to manage each of the detailed issues that were prepared in the problem analysis. This then led to formulation of recommendations and the selection of those recommendations judged to be of highest priority for action to conserve the mountain

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