17 April 2009

At-Risk Species in 30 Countries Benefit from U.S. Grants

U.S. agency awards $1.5 million to protect turtles, great apes, elephants

A 7-year-old loggerhead sea turtle swims in a tank at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta awaiting his release back into the wild.

Washington — Turtles, gorillas and elephants are among the intended beneficiaries of $1.5 million in international conservation grants recently announced by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The grants, made available through the service’s Wildlife Without Borders multinational species programs, are expected to attract an additional $2.3 million in matching funds to help at-risk wildlife in 30 countries by combating threats like poaching, illegal trafficking, habitat loss and disease.

“These grants provide critical support for efforts targeting highly imperiled species and habitats throughout the world,” the service’s acting director, Rowan Gould, said in a prepared statement April 9. “They enable local communities, partner organizations, universities and governments to conserve and manage their natural heritage.”

In the Western Hemisphere, funded projects include protecting leatherback sea turtles at one of the few remaining nesting beaches in the eastern Pacific on Costa Rica; providing a 60-day course in natural resources conservation for 16 wildlife professionals currently working in protected areas; and supporting field work to protect, monitor and manage at-risk species and their habitats.

The funds will support leatherback turtle conservation efforts in Indonesia, Gabon, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Angola, Sao Tome and Principe, Equatorial Guinea and Vietnam; protection of loggerhead turtles in Oman, Japan, Mexico and Cape Verde; assistance for olive ridley turtle populations in Mexico, Costa Rica, Trinidad and Tobago, Nicaragua and India; and protection of hawksbill turtles in Mexico, Barbados, Nicaragua, Panama and Vietnam.

A grant from the service’s Marine Turtle Conservation Fund will support a coalition of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Cape Verde to better coordinate and expand efforts to protect and survey nesting loggerhead turtles, which suffer from heavy illegal poaching. Up to 25 percent of the nesting females are killed each year. The grant will fund a pre-season workshop with NGO representatives and government officials to improve private-public cooperation, identify priority actions and support expanded protection of nesting females.

A baby western lowland gorilla eats bamboo shoots alongside its mother at Mefou National Park in Cameroon.

Thanks to the Marine Turtle Conservation Fund, established by Congress in 2004, more than $5 million in direct grants and matching funds have supported nearly 100 turtle-conservation projects around the world. (See “Threats to Marine Turtle Raise International Concern.”)

AFRICA’S GREAT APES AND ELEPHANTS

Grants from the service’s Great Ape Conservation Fund will help protect chimpanzees, western gorillas and eastern gorillas in Central African Republic, Gabon, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Nigeria, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Tanzania, Ghana and Sierra Leone. The Fish and Wildlife Service will award 13 grants totaling $866,133 — with matching resources from partners totaling $1,263,586 — to benefit programs in 12 countries across Africa.

The fund will continue to support dawn-to-dusk protection and monitoring of mountain gorillas based at Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda, including one research project under way for three decades collecting gorilla demographic and ranging data to help the Rwandan National Park Service manage the park. The award supports anti-poaching patrols to remove snares, record illegal activities and train park staff to protect gorillas.

Four grants totaling $301,353, with another $500,741 in matching resources from partners, will be used to protect African elephants. The funds will assist conservation efforts in Zambia, Malawi, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Fish and Wildlife Service said.

Ultimately, the grants aim to secure a total amount of more than $1.76 million for these vital conservation efforts, according to the services. In the northern region of DRC, a grant will fund rebuilding a ranger post in Kabaraza for the Congolese Wildlife Authority. This will allow creation of wildlife security patrols for Queen Elizabeth Park, Uganda, and Virunga National Park, DRC. (See “African Officials Pledge to Keep Virunga Parks Secure.”)

For additional information on U.S. efforts to support wildlife conversation worldwide, see Vanishing Act.

More information on Fish and Wildlife Service international programs is available on the agency’s Web site.