Congo Basin

After hundreds of elephants are found slaughtered, efforts increase to secure a national park and its elephant population

Meet Sidonie, a female ranger who works to fight poaching in Africa.

Because of international cooperation, an armed antipoaching brigade from three nations patrols forests to protect wildlife.

An infant mountain gorilla was rescued from poachers in Rwanda.

Leaders from 30 countries met at the Brazzaville Tropical Forest Summit to find shared solutions to save their forests and support the fight against the devastating consequences of climate change.

David Ankoh has what it takes to have his name entered into the Guinness Book of Records. He is 109 years old living in the sub Saharan country of Cameroon where life expectancy for men is about 50, is a father of 88 children, lives in a village at the periphery of the Boumba-Bek National Park and is not only a witness to a disappearing abundance of wildlife, but is also a strong supporter of WWF work in the area.

Mario Malomo is excited and anxious as he joins more than a dozen of his committee members who have taken up positions around the Tembe Piste community fishpond.

It is no exaggeration to say that the Virunga Landscape is known as much for its famed mountain gorillas as it is for a long and bloody conflict that has taken a toll on millions of people. The challenge is inspiring people to save an irreplaceable natural treasure when they face hunger, desperation and even death.

More than a ton of illegal bushmeat – including primate and elephant meat – was seized in the Congo Basin last week and 15 wildlife poachers arrested in an unprecedented police operation.

For the first time in more than a year, mountain gorillas in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) Virunga National Park have been seen by park rangers, and are reported to be doing well.

The ongoing conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has recently intensified. As a result more than 50 Congolese park rangers fled to safety from Virunga National Park and more than 800,000 people have been displaced. There are also reports that the rebels have advanced to just outside of Goma – the regional capital – threatening the stability of the entire country.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, continued fighting has intensified the environmental and humanitarian crisis. In spite of WWF's provision of emergency fuel wood supplies for people in temporary camps, pressures on nearby Virunga National Park are increasing.

Just last month, staff of the WWF-funded Dzanga-Sangha Primate Habituation Programme witnessed the birth of a new infant into the Makumba group of western lowland gorillas, which lives in the Central Africa Republic's Dzanga-Ndoki National Park. The newborn was named Mowane - meaning "gift of God" in the local Bantu language.