DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: REBELS AND CONSERVATIONS HELP TO PRESERVE FOREST HOME OF THE OKAPI, THREATENED BY ILLEGAL COLTAN MINING
Record ID:
590763
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: REBELS AND CONSERVATIONS HELP TO PRESERVE FOREST HOME OF THE OKAPI, THREATENED BY ILLEGAL COLTAN MINING
- Title: DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: REBELS AND CONSERVATIONS HELP TO PRESERVE FOREST HOME OF THE OKAPI, THREATENED BY ILLEGAL COLTAN MINING
- Date: 1st July 2001
- Summary: EPULU, NORTHEAST DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO (RECENT AND FILE) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. VARIOUS OF GUARDS ON PATROL IN DERELICT VILLAGE (6 SHOTS) 0.22 2. PAN ACROSS EMPTY CAMP 0.28 3. GV CUT DOWN TREES 0.32 4. GV TREES WITHOUT BARK 0.35 5. GV POLLUTED WATER 0.38 6. SLV MAN LOOKING AT CUT TREE BARK 0.41 7. SMV TREES DYING AFTER REMOVAL OF BARK 0.45 8. VARIOUS, PATROLLING GUARDS WITH MINERS (2 SHOTS) 0.53 9. WIDE OF SEATED MINERS WITH THEIR CONFISCATED EQUIPMENT / SCU BOWL OF MINERALS (2 SHOTS) 0.58 10. WIDE OF ILLEGAL MINERS BEING LED AWAY BY PATROLLING GUARDS 1.07 11. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) JOHN-PAUL MONGO, Guard "We found seven men digging coltan illegally. We succeeded to arrest only four. Three of them fled in the forest." 1.13 12. SCU COLTAN MINERALS 1.18 13. WIDE OF FOREST/ NATURE RESERVE 1.21 14. SLV TRUCK DRIVING OVER BRIDGE 1.30 15. VARIOUS. LOCAL PEOPLE ON THE HIGHWAY BEING CHECKED BY PATROLLING GUARDS 1.38 16. SLV LOCAL PEOPLE WALKING THROUGH FOREST 1.41 17. VARIOUS, AERIALS OF FOREST (3 SHOTS) 1.54 18. WIDE OF PEOPLE BURNING WOOD IN FOREST CLEARING 1.58 19. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) KARL RUF, Epulu Okapi Project Director "3-4,000 people moved in along the main road and went into the forest, and that has put a lot of pressure on wildlife on plants. The mining itself, there is a lot of destruction to the rivers and trees, and then also feeding 4,000 people, that is a lot of pressure on the animals, such as elephants and dykers and monkeys." 2.15 20. SLV PEOPLE IN BOAT ALONG RIVER 2.20 21. SLV MONKEYS (KARL RUF SOUNDBITE CONTINUING) 2.25 22. SLV PATROLS WALKING PAST POLLUTED STREAM 2.31 (REUTERS FILE) 23. VARIOUS OF JEAN PIERRE BEMBA FLC REBEL LEADER (2 SHOTS) 2.40 (RECENT) (REUTERS -ACCESS ALL) 24. VARIOUS OF GUARDS BEING TRAINED (5 SHOTS) 2.25 25. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) KARL RUF "Now I have a feeling that both sides accept that conservation is something that has no boundaries and that is an incredible success." 3.09 26. VARIOUS OF OKAPI (5 SHOTS) 3.36 27. WIDE OF MEN CLEANING AND FEEDING THE OKAPI 3.44 28. VARIOUS, MEN COLLECTING LEAVES FROM TREES FOR THE OKAPI (3 SHOTS) 3.56 29. WIDE OF PYGMY DISTRIBUTING FOOD FOR THE OKAPI AT BREEDING CENTRE 3.58 30. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Local Dialect) MANGAPI, Okapi Breeding Center "For us killing the okapi is totally unacceptable. When the okapi move to another location due to poachers, it is very sad for us. We are here to preserve the Okapi and protect it. It gives us a lot of happiness." 4.14 31. WIDE OF BREEDING CENTRE 4.18 32. VARIOUS, PYGMIES WASHING LEAVES (2 SHOTS) 4.26 33. VARIOUS OF OKAPI EATING LEAVES AND FOLIAGE (3 SHOTS) 4.38 35. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) ROSEMARY RUF, World Expert on Okapi "The goal is to export youngsters - not the ones who are caught in the wild, but babies born here at the station, to zoos in Europe and the United States to reassure their bloodline, so they will have the chance to survive in zoos." 4.54 36. VARIOUS, OKAPI (2 SHOTS) 5.03 37. VARIOUS FOREST FLOWERS AND FUNGI (2 SHOTS) 5.10 38. VARIOUS, OF FOREST (2 SHOTS) 5.17 39. WIDE OF DESTROYED AREA OF FOREST/FELLED TREES 5.21 40. SMV/ SCU CONSERVATIONISTS LOOKING AT PLANT (2 SHOTS) 5.27 41. VARIOUS, CONSERVATIONIST PLACING PLANTS ON NEWSPAPER (3 SHOTS) 5.37 42. WIDE OF VILLAGE/ CAMP 5.41 43. VARIOUS OF GUARDS/ RIFLES STUCK NEXT TO HUT (3 SHOTS) 5.54 44. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) KARL RUF "There are many soldiers up there who are hiding which are very well armed so it is too dangerous with so little force we have to go up there and do something. That is why we need the help of the FLC to chase these people out of the forest." 6.14 45. VARIOUS OF OKAPI AND PYGMIES WORKING ON RESERVE (4 SHOTS) 6.32 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 16th July 2001 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: OKAPI WILDLIFE RESERVE EPULU, NORTHEAST DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
- City:
- Country: Congo, Democratic Republic of
- Reuters ID: LVAPPNQO94IFVB0WO4XZSBBUKWI
- Story Text: The Okapi is a strange cross between a zebra and a
giraffe. There are only 30,000 of these rare creatures in
the world, and all of them live in The Democratic Republic
of the Congo. But, their livelihood is being threatened by
illegal mining activities going on in one of the Wildlife
reserves where they live. Shantha Bloemen reports.
In the Okapi Wildlife Reserve in North-eastern Congo,
a guard on patrol searches a derelict house for signs of
recent habitation.
He's in an old mining camp in the forest, looking for
people illegally digging for columbo-tantalite, a rare and
valuable mineral used in high-tech electronic equipment,
better known as coltan.
The camp is empty, but earlier this year more than 500
miners worked here, panning frantically for coltan in the
nearby forest streams.
They cut down trees for houses, destroyed the streams,
and tore off tree bark to sieve the coltan from the water.
The trees, without their bark, are now dying.
Further on, the patrol finds a group of miners quietly at
work. These are local peasant farmers, hoping for quick
riches. Caught by the guards, their equipment is
confiscated. They are led off to jail at the wildlife
reserve headquarters in Epulu.
Guard John-Paul Mongo says "We found seven men digging
coltan illegally. We succeeded to arrest only four. Three of
them fled in the forest."
The Coltan miners who flooded into the forest last year
are just the latest arrivals to threaten the Reserve's
unique ecosystem.
The World Heritage Site has the misfortune to lie along
the old trans-Africa highway - a main thoroughfare across
Central Africa.
And, as Congo's war continues to devastate the lives
of millions of people, they, in turn, are threatening to
destroy some of the world's richest and rarest bio
diversity.
From the air, the forest, which once extended as far
as Uganda, appears untouched as far as the eye can see. But
closer to the ground, the view is rather different, as
growing numbers of migrants settle along the road.
Karl Ruf, Epulu Okapi Project Director says "3-4,000
people moved in along the main road and went into the forest
, and that has put a lot of pressure on wildlife on plants.
The mining itself, there is a lot of destruction to the
rivers and trees, and then also feeding 4,000 people, that
is a lot of pressure on the animals, such as elephants and
dykers and monkeys."
By early this year, the situation was desperate.
Something needed to be done.
An alliance was forged between Jean-Pierre Bemba's
FLC the rebel group that controls the area, and
conservationists.
The FLC trained the reserve's 60 guards and also
helps them in patrolling the forest.
And it seemed a broad consensus was achieved between the
various rebel and government forces.
Karl Ruf says "Now I have a feeling that both sides
accept that conservation is something that has no boundaries
and that is an incredible success."
With their long tongues and curious features, the
okapi may lead the way in the area's conservation efforts.
The most unusual of the animals that thrive here,
they're a strange cross between a giraffe and zebra.
There are only 30,000 of them in the world, and all
of them live in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
A breeding centre was established here in 1987.
It's now home to 14 okapi, six of whom were born in
captivity.
The okapi are well looked after by the indigenous
Mbuti and Efe pygmies, the forest's best conservationists.
The 53 pygmies who work at the Breeding Centre go
out to collect a variety of local leaves from the
surrounding rainforest for the okapis' two meals a day.
Mangapi from the Okapi Breeding Center says "For
us killing the okapi is totally unacceptable. When the okapi
move to another location due to poachers, it is very sad for
us. We are here to preserve the Okapi and protect it. It
gives us a lot of happiness."
When the breeding centre was occupied and looted by
Mobutu's former soldiers, even during the worst of the
fighting, the pygmies risked their own lives to keep the
centre's okapi alive.
And despite the destruction, none was killed.
The centre is now helping to boost the depleted
okapi populations of the world's zoos.
World Expert on Okapi Rosemary Ruf says "The goal
is to export youngsters - not the ones who are caught in the
wild, but babies born here at the station, to zoos in Europe
and the United States to reassure their bloodline, so they
will have the chance to survive in zoos."
The breeding centre doesn't just prevent okapi
being taken from the wild. It's hoped it can also educate
people in the rest of the world about Northeast Congo's
unique environment and raise crucial funds to support local
conservation efforts.
The drive to protect the ancient forest, which
survived as an island refuge during the last Ice Age, has
been given added impetus by researchers at the Forest
Conservation Centre at Epulu. They've found it ranks among
the richest of all African forests in terms of biodiversity.
In the past few years, they have logged 750 plant
species which, to the surprise of many botanists, compares
well with forests in Asia and South America, long thought to
have been more species-diverse.
But the success of recent months in expelling
miners and poachers from the southern part of the reserve is
overshadowed by the reality that no one knows what damage is
being done in the northern part of the forest.
Says Karl Ruf "There are many soldiers up there
who are hiding which are very well
armed so it is too dangerous with so little force we have to
go up there and do something. That is why we need the help
of the FLC to chase these people out of the forest."
The task ahead is enormous. In the long term, the
future of the Okapi and the reserve's unique biodiversity
could only be ensured by sustainable peace in Congo. And
that's something that's so far proved to be elusive at best.
ENDS
- Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None