My Gorilla - My Community

According to PCI Media Impact, Cross River gorillas have little chance of long-term conservation success without local community protection and support, and the only way to win that support is through communications messaging, and supporting campaigns that educate and change the attitudes and behaviours of populations who are in direct contact with these gorillas.

The overall objectives for My Gorilla – My Community are to:

• develop the capacity of WCS and local organisations in Nigeria and Cameroon to better use communications to effectively enhance community protection activities and motivate long-term social change in favour of Cross River gorillas;
• build a community of coalitions of well-informed constituents who understand and support protection of the Cross River gorilla; and
• change attitudes and behaviours related to Cross River gorillas and heighten awareness of the threats to their long-term survival.

Through training and mentorship, the project is equipping Wildlife Conservation Society in Nigeria and Cameroon with the tools to use social marketing approaches to educate, shape attitudes, and catalyze sustainable behaviour change. Since launching the project, Media Impact has developed a cross border coalition with WCS-Nigeria, WCS – Cameroon, local and national stakeholders, scientists, and broadcast teams that are spearheading awareness-building the communication for development work. Together, the team identified and trained local scriptwriters and held focus groups to uncover culturally relevant stories that writers drew upon for a radio drama.

The radio drama will begin airing in July 2013, and coalition broadcast partners will hold radio call-in shows following every broadcast, providing listeners with a forum to share opinions and lessons learned. The radio drama, called Linda’s Joint, centres on a remote village in the highlands along the Nigeria and Cameroon border, torn apart over plans to pull down the community forest to build a palm plantation. In the drama, hunters become farmers; village leaders fall under the spells of love, money, power, and palm wine; and a little girl’s determination to save a baby gorilla from a hunter transforms the King of Hunters into a Gorilla Guardian. Corruption, arrests, betrayal, and violence befall the village as it comes to grips with the dangers of illicit hunting and deforestation and learns how to survive without destroying its natural resources.

Environment

According to My Gorilla - My Community, hunting and habitat loss are the gorillas biggest barriers to survival: the number of mature Cross River gorillas is estimated at fewer than 200, and the total population is estimated at fewer than 300. This primate is the most endangered African ape and among the world's 25 most endangered primate species.