But, there is hope. Today, on Earth Day, we’re launching a major new great ape conservation initiative, Guardians of Dja, working with local communities in the Dja Biosphere Reserve, Cameroon to recruit and train Great Ape Guardians.
These specially trained individuals will work together to protect the remaining 1,258 western lowland gorillas living in this part of the rainforest in the Congo basin, as well as chimpanzees, forest elephants, pangolins and the many more species found there.
The Dja initiative will also invest in the Cameroonian community, supporting sustainable agro-forestry as an alternative income to bushmeat, and creating education around human-wildlife interactions and the rainforest ecosystem.
Your donation towards our Apes on the Edge Appeal today will not only help protect great apes, but support the Guardians of Dja initiative to conserve their natural habitat too.
Apes need a Guardian – will you help save them?