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Countries Appendix RWANDA (10.1%) Tourism is largely the reason mountain gorillas still survive today in Rwanda. The gorilla had long been threatened by poachers and habitat destruction by farmers until the government created Volcano National Park and implemented anti-poaching patrols and hired farmers as park rangers and guards. These improvements were directly funded by the $170 fee charged to visitors to the park. Tourists seem completely agreeable to pay this fee in order to see the last of these giant apes. Up until a few years ago, this conservation system seemed to be working reasonably well, although non-park areas were still threatened by subsistence agriculture and fuelwood collection. However, the situation has deteriorated with the massive Tutsi-Hutu civil war that erupted in 1993. Although the chaos initially did not do much damage to the forest or the gorilla habitat, the mass exodus of hundreds of thousands of refugees has taken its toll on the environment. Gone with the refugees were many conservation workers who supervised preservation activities and since, soldiers have moved into national parks. They hunt game with automatic weapons and cut down forest for fuelwood and building materials. One of the hardest hit areas is Akagera National Park which covers about 2500 square km. Exiled Tutsi peoples have returned with livestock (as many as 2 million) to graze the reserve, much of which is wetlands and swamps. An army hunting camp has been built around the former park office and soldiers are now rapidly cutting trees for fuelwood and building materials. The international community is poured money into Rwanda in a humanitarian effort, but the wildlife appeared to be forgotten. Fortunately, in the case of the Nyungwe Forest Conservation Project, participation by locals may have sustained conservation projects even as the genocide occurred. According to Fimbel and Fimbel (1997), local people became stewards of the national park after the expatriate staff fled the country and protected the park from forest exploiters. |
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