The gorillas, forest guards against CO2

In the fight against climate change, any contribution is positive. Therefore, conservation experts have drawn the attention of the world authorities on the protection of great apes in support of reforestation programs, provides a simple and effective tool to combat CO2 emissions.

Gorillas eat fruit and plants, to be digested and redeposited in the soil, help seeds germinate. Although not yet fully known the importance of these apes in their ecosystems, the UN ambassador for the Year of the Gorilla, Ian Redmond, said that many species of trees and plants would not survive without them, the elephants and the other large mammals.

Currently, several industrialized countries work with different programs for the reforestation of forests in Africa, Southeast Asia and South America, as a measure to help contain the effects of global warming. In the same vein, several economists have said that the cheapest way to reduce emissions is to invest in the rehabilitation of large forest areas.

Redmond said that the major nations will meet in the forthcoming World Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen would commit a grave error if not commit to specific funds to protect the gorillas. "If we save the trees but not animals, we witness a long agony of forests," said Redmond told The Guardian. "I ask participants in Copenhagen that the gorillas do not consider a luxury item."
Natural sink for CO2

Forests are a natural sink for carbon, absorbing about 4,800 million tonnes each year. "That's what these animals are not mere decoration, or interesting objects of study. They are part of an ecosystem". As reported by the Endangered Species Fund, two gorillas in the Congo die each week and their bodies are sold for their meat consumption. Although most individuals live in National Parks, are rapidly losing their habitat.

The areas inhabited by gorillas are in many cases, the scene of civil wars. It is also an endangered species by poachers and habitat destruction caused by mining and illegal timber used by local guerrillas to finance itself. Nearly two decades of civil war in the Great Lakes area of Africa, which includes areas of Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania and Kenya, have had a serious impact on the population of these animals.