A focus on mountain gorilla monitoring, as careful decisions are being made about tourism and research | International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP)

IGCP commends efforts in DRC, Rwanda and Uganda to enhance best practices at all mountain gorilla sites.

IGCP also applauds the recent uptake of the use of face masks by tourists and personnel in Uganda and Rwanda, as was already standard practice in DRC. We expect that this commitment to the highest standard best practices will continue even post the current global health crisis, as human transmission of respiratory viruses to mountain gorillas is a persistent threat.

To do our part, IGCP has suspended field activities save for financial and logistical support to COVID-19 preparedness and monitoring, together with our partner organizations.

The global pandemic, and recent emergence of COVID-19 in mountain gorilla range states, will certainly have direct and indirect impact to the efforts to conserve mountain gorillas in the immediate and medium-term.

IGCP will be sharing/posting more about park edge resilience in response to the current global health emergency in the coming weeks.