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Helping the World to preserving the Biodiversity

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Subido el 27 de julio de 2007 por EducaMadrid

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Helping the World to preserving the Biodiversity

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We're in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. 00:00:00
Contrary to appearances, these men are not soldiers. 00:00:18
Their forest ranges from the ICCN, the Congolese Institute of Nature Conservation. 00:00:21
Their job? To fight against poaching and protect the biodiversity of the Virunga National Park. 00:00:27
For a decade, from 1992 to 2002, this area was devastated by successive wars. 00:00:35
From 1994 to 1996, hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing the massacres in Rwanda 00:00:41
flowed into the Congolese National Parks. 00:00:47
Refugees almost totally destitute, 00:00:49
completely dependent on natural resources of food and water to be able to survive. 00:00:52
Apart from the human misery it created, 00:00:56
and despite food aid which was delivered by humanitarian aid organizations, 00:00:59
this situation had catastrophic effects on the animal and plant life. 00:01:03
Despite the difficulties, the ICCN managed to continue its biodiversity conservation work, 00:01:10
after a fashion, throughout all these years, with help from the European Union. 00:01:16
This work continued in spite of the war. 00:01:23
The rangers remained on the job. 00:01:26
The European Commission continued to support the programs from near and far. 00:01:28
Today, the European Union is still involved. 00:01:35
For example, it financed the rebuilding of the infrastructure and the training of the rangers. 00:01:38
Training is essential because illegal hunting is a huge problem in this area. 00:01:43
I can give you an example. 00:01:52
Nearly 30 years ago, there was a population of 35,000 hippos in the Virunga National Park. 00:01:54
The last census gives an alarming figure of just 836 hippos, 00:02:00
which are now registered on the list of animals on the way to extinction. 00:02:05
That shows you the extent of the poaching that there was. 00:02:10
The ICCN rangers are also trained to take on the more social and rather delicate task 00:02:16
of raising awareness amongst the local people. 00:02:21
It's not easy to make the villagers, who live in difficult circumstances around the parks, 00:02:24
understand that they must stop cutting wood and killing animals. 00:02:29
One can't think of making a partition wall between the people who live around this nature 00:02:38
and the resources that the nature can provide them. 00:02:42
The difficulty is to help them understand that it's in their own interest 00:02:47
to protect the nature which surrounds them, in order to ensure their survival. 00:02:50
There's an expression which says that one can preserve only what one knows and one loves. 00:02:59
So it's necessary to show these people that it's in their interest 00:03:04
to preserve the inheritance for future generations. 00:03:07
Not long ago, there was a forest here. 00:03:10
They're starting to realize that there's less rain. 00:03:12
We're starting to make them understand that they need to play their part in conservation 00:03:15
for the benefit of the country, but also for their own benefit too, and for future generations. 00:03:19
Their benefit, but also ours, because the conservation of biological diversity 00:03:26
is actually something essential to human survival, to our survival. 00:03:31
In fact, we're all dependent on even these remote ecosystems. 00:03:36
They have a direct effect on the regulation of the climate. 00:03:40
They provide us with essential natural resources 00:03:43
and contain wealth which has still to be discovered. 00:03:46
The situation is paradoxical. 00:03:51
In fact, the poorest countries possess the richest ecosystems, 00:03:53
which is why Europeans must invest in the protection of biodiversity 00:03:56
and support these countries in their conservation efforts. 00:04:01
Biodiversity is regarded as a world public good. 00:04:06
Everyone needs to join together to preserve it for the present and future generations. 00:04:10
For the European Union, environmental protection is an integral part of its development aid programs. 00:04:17
The protection of biodiversity is clearly stated in the Millennium Objectives of the United Nations. 00:04:23
We need ecosystems to fight against poverty. 00:04:28
Central Africa is the second largest forest area in the world, 00:04:35
and it's already 15 years ago that Europe launched its EcoFac program here. 00:04:38
EcoFac helps eight countries in the region to preserve and develop their biodiversity 00:04:43
in collaboration with the governments as well as local and international NGOs. 00:04:47
To conserve and develop, that's increasingly what local people want too. 00:04:52
Mohindo Simbendiri is a local chief in the northern region of Virunga. 00:04:57
He's someone who thinks that preserving nature 00:05:01
can provide more than just wood and food for the local people. 00:05:04
The park is our wealth. We'll profit when tourism develops. We're fine. 00:05:07
Eco-tourism is indeed one of the means of adding value to biodiversity. 00:05:16
Epriem and Baudouin are trackers in the Virunga park. 00:05:20
Their job, to accustom the large monkeys to the presence of humans 00:05:24
and to take visitors to see them. 00:05:27
They're also the ones who are responsible for the conservation of the park. 00:05:29
In the areas where tourism has been introduced, poaching has almost ceased 00:05:33
because the poachers avoid areas where people are. 00:05:37
The gorillas, who are used to visitors, are not worried by them 00:05:40
as long as a few definite rules are respected. 00:05:43
No more than seven people in a group, the length of visit limited to an hour, 00:05:47
and no flags are allowed to be raised. 00:05:51
The park is also a place where tourists can come and go as they please. 00:05:54
No more than seven people in a group, the length of visit limited to an hour, 00:05:58
and no flash photography or direct contact. 00:06:02
The eco-tourism is good for the local economy 00:06:06
and so can help the people with their conservation effort. 00:06:09
It's clear that, above all, it's a tool for the protection of biodiversity. 00:06:12
We're now closer to the capital Kinshasa. 00:06:17
This is the Kisantu Botanical Garden. 00:06:19
This 100-year-old garden contains no less than 3,500 species in 225 hectares. 00:06:22
A public park which aims to concentrate the incredible wealth of Congolese flora in one place. 00:06:29
A garden open, above all, to the local people. 00:06:35
The managers of the botanical garden want to show that a well-managed environment 00:06:39
can bring about a concrete improvement in quality of life. 00:06:44
We grow here what we call caterpillar plants. 00:06:47
That is, we cultivate plants which caterpillars come to feed on, 00:06:50
and from then on, people can find food. 00:06:53
In these areas, there's not much cattle breeding. 00:06:55
It's the caterpillars which provide the protein. 00:06:57
These caterpillar plants are cultivated and then replanted 00:07:06
to help people living near the botanical garden. 00:07:09
Experiments which can then benefit large numbers of people 00:07:11
Kisantu is a great success. 00:07:15
Thanks to the hard work and the exceptional devotion of the Congolese people, 00:07:17
supported by Europe, 00:07:20
the botanical garden was able to survive the country's troubled times. 00:07:22
We're off now to Gabon, another country which benefits from the ECOFAC program. 00:07:27
Here, too, Europe helps with the preservation and development of biodiversity. 00:07:32
In practice, the ECOFAC program is a way of helping the people of Gabon 00:07:39
In practice, it's resulted in an institutional support 00:07:44
to make it possible for the country to advance its national parks legislation. 00:07:47
We provided considerable support for training 00:07:50
to allow Gabon to have the framework necessary to fight against poaching. 00:07:54
We have also worked to support research institutions 00:07:58
to get a better understanding of the environments we want to protect. 00:08:01
The Lopé Park is one of 13 national parks in Gabon. 00:08:05
More than 5,000 square kilometres of tropical forest and savannah 00:08:09
where monkeys, gorillas, elephants and buffalo live together. 00:08:13
In the middle of the park, the Mikongo Camp welcomes visitors. 00:08:18
Guyla and Sidouan are guides in Mikongo. 00:08:22
Every day, they go into the forest with small groups of people, 00:08:24
to help guide them through the forest. 00:08:27
They also help guide them through the forest. 00:08:30
Every day, they go into the forest with small groups of people, 00:08:32
who they introduce to the tropical forest, its fauna, 00:08:35
and its sometimes unexpected richness. 00:08:38
When we're in the village, we go into the forest. 00:08:43
If you're wounded, because we're in a place where there's no hospital, 00:08:46
so this tree, you pierce it like that, and you take a leaf, 00:08:51
you take the sap, and you put it where you're wounded, 00:08:57
and that stops the bleeding. 00:09:02
Guyla and Sidouan are not amateur guides. 00:09:10
They first had to study for months to learn their job. 00:09:12
In fact, conservation of biodiversity requires very particular and varied skills. 00:09:16
In Gabon, the very best training is at the ENEF, 00:09:21
the National School of Waters and Forests. 00:09:24
In this institution, young people are trained from all over the subcontinent. 00:09:27
These are the future protectors of Africa's ecosystems. 00:09:32
To develop, but also conserve, you need well-trained men and women, 00:09:40
and training is an expensive area. 00:09:44
The EU supports us in the field of capacity building. 00:09:46
We especially appreciated the EU programme to train young people 00:09:49
and we appreciated the EU programme to train the trainers. 00:09:53
In the middle of the Lopé Park is a research centre 00:10:00
which works with the European Union. 00:10:03
Several scientists, as well as Gabonese and foreign NGO members work here. 00:10:06
Their principal job is to monitor and count the animal species. 00:10:10
How many elephants or gorillas are there in the park? 00:10:15
Where are they? How are their populations developing? 00:10:18
The researchers also study threats to the species, 00:10:21
poaching or the terrifying killer virus Ebola, 00:10:24
responsible for the deaths of so many gorillas. 00:10:28
At the moment, there's nothing much that we can do about Ebola. 00:10:31
Nobody has been able to stop it yet, 00:10:35
but at least if we know it's happening, it's important. 00:10:38
The solution for a vaccine against Ebola is maybe to be found in the jungle. 00:10:44
The ecosystems are vital to advanced research. 00:10:48
The national parks are home to a multitude of species, plants and molecules 00:10:52
which could provide the medicines and vaccines of tomorrow. 00:10:56
Against the Ebola virus, which affects not only animals but also humans, 00:11:00
or malaria, which continues to kill 3,000 African children every day. 00:11:04
To get to know and protect the ecosystems in danger is an absolute priority today. 00:11:11
The developed countries must become aware of the extent of the danger 00:11:16
and invest in conservation or risk seeing incalculable wealth disappear forever. 00:11:20
We often forget that the eco... 00:11:26
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Idioma/s:
en
Niveles educativos:
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Autor/es:
The European Union
Subido por:
EducaMadrid
Licencia:
Reconocimiento - No comercial - Sin obra derivada
Visualizaciones:
1273
Fecha:
27 de julio de 2007 - 14:05
Visibilidad:
Público
Enlace Relacionado:
European Commission
Duración:
08′ 33″
Relación de aspecto:
4:3 Hasta 2009 fue el estándar utilizado en la televisión PAL; muchas pantallas de ordenador y televisores usan este estándar, erróneamente llamado cuadrado, cuando en la realidad es rectangular o wide.
Resolución:
448x336 píxeles
Tamaño:
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