This article was provided to us by YoG Ambassador Ian Redmond. Thank you Ian for your outstanding and exemplary efforts throughout the YoG!!
“A belated Happy New Year to all readers – in fact Happy New International Year of Biodiversity! (see http://www.cbd.int/2010/welcome/).
This year the UN has broadened its scope to raise awareness of all biodiversity – the millions of species of animals, plants, fungi and microorganisms with whom we share the planet. This is partly because the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) set targets for 2010 to reduce the loss of biodiversity. These 2010 targets (and how badly we have missed them) will be on the agenda at the 10th Conference of the Parties to the CBD in Japan this September (http://www.cbd.int/cop10/).
Sliding smoothly from YoG to IYB (for some reason it was decided the Year of Biodiversity acronym wouldn’t follow the pattern of YoG…) is quite fitting, given that gorilla habitat is among the most bio-diverse on earth, and directly or indirectly many of the species therein are ecologically linked to gorillas. I’ll return to this theme later, but first I must report on my visit to the Climate Conference in Copenhagen.
Year of the Gorilla event mobilizes a major audience in Paris
Monday, 07 December 2009 14:08
Paris, 5 December - A major outreach event to mark the Year of the Gorilla at the Museum of Natural History in Paris attracted an interested public in large numbers.
The event on 5th December, organized by the French Ministry for the Environment (MEEDDM), was held in the run-up to the United Nations’ climate change conference in Copenhagen.
Theatre performances (click for images), which were inspired by African oral traditions, raised awareness on the plight of gorillas and their role to conserve rainforests as keystone species.
A series of films which was screened in the auditorium of the Museum dealt with threats to gorillas as a result of logging, charcoal production, mining activities, armed conflicts and poaching. The role of Lowland and Mountain Gorillas for biodiversity was emphasized in the film “Retour aux Virungas” directed by André Lucas, who guided the audience though the film sessions.
WAZA members make YoG central part of their 2009 activities
Thursday, 03 December 2009 13:33
WAZA, the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums, is one of the three main partners of the Year of the Gorilla 2009. Altogether, 109 zoos supported the YoG, especially through educational and outreach activities aimed at the full spectrum of visitors, from kids to interested adults, but also through fundraising for projects and the hosting of conferences and lectures.
With the year now drawing closer to its end, WAZA has compiled a selection of events and activities undertaken by WAZA members. This is of course only a fraction of the events that took place at WAZA zoos and wildlife parks, but it should nevertheless give you an idea of WAZA's contribution to reaching out and informing the general public on gorillas and the threats they face.
RETURN TO VIRUNGA: THE BATTLE TO SAVE THE MOUNTAIN GORILLAS
Monday, 23 November 2009 15:26
At the epicenter of the long-running civil war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo lies Virunga National Park, Africa’s oldest national park in the border triangle of Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is home to more than 200 of the only 720 Mountain Gorillas remaining in the world. Here, a small but dedicated force of forest rangers risk their lives to save one of the world's greatest and most vulnerable species.
The Year of the Gorilla is an official supporter of the documentary "Return to Virunga: The Battle to Save the Mountain Gorillas", which follows the rangers as they return to Virunga after having been banished by rebels from the park for more than a year. What will the rangers, led by their intrepid new warden, find when they return home? What does the future hold for Congo's mountain gorillas? Can these great apes still be saved? Watch the 2 minute trailer!!!
BBC Wildlife Magazine article on Year of the Gorilla trip to African states
To mark the Year of the Gorilla in 2009, IAN REDMOND embarked on a dangerous quest to sub-saharan Africa. His mission: to visit no fewer than all 10 gorilla range states to see how these magnificent animals are faring and to speak face to face with politicians, conservationists, poachers, loggers and anybody else with links to the gorillas' sitution.
Beginning in the comparatively serene Gloucestershire town of Stroud (UK) on 9 August, Ian Redmond flew from London to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia to begin his adventure. He tried to use public transport where possible, though the sheer distances involved meant he often had to take planes.
This article was provided to us by YoG Ambassador Ian Redmond. Thank you Ian for your outstanding and exemplary efforts throughout the YoG!!
Paris, 5 December - A major outreach event to mark the Year of the Gorilla at the Museum of Natural History in Paris attracted an interested public in large numbers. 
WAZA, the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums, is one of the three main partners of the Year of the Gorilla 2009. Altogether, 109 zoos supported the YoG, especially through educational and outreach activities aimed at the full spectrum of visitors, from kids to interested adults, but also through fundraising for projects and the hosting of conferences and lectures.
To mark the Year of the Gorilla in 2009, IAN REDMOND embarked on a dangerous quest to sub-saharan Africa. His mission: to visit no fewer than all 10 gorilla range states to see how these magnificent animals are faring and to speak face to face with politicians, conservationists, poachers, loggers and anybody else with links to the gorillas' sitution. 