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London marathon to raise $1m for Virunga rangers

Saturday March 25 2017

Democratic Republic of Congo’s Virunga National Park, a Unesco World Heritage Site will benefit from a fundraising initiative dubbed Virgin Money London Marathon that seeks to raise $1 million.

The park's chief warden and director Emmanuel de Merode, said that the marathon slated for April 23, will be an opportunity to help protect the future of Virunga which is home to a section of the last of the world’s surviving population of mountain gorillas.

The money will be used to start an endowment fund for rangers who risk their lives to protect the world heritage site.

Mr De Merode said: “We have a unique opportunity to raise $1 million to kickstart an endowment fund that will support our dedicated rangers — over 150 of whom have been killed in the line of duty.”

He added that the endowment fund will ensure the security of widows and families of rangers killed or injured in the line of duty for decades to come.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature ranks mountain gorillas among the critically endangered species. Their population plummeted to just 253 animals in 1981. By last year, there were more than 480 mountain gorillas in the Virunga Massif — shared by Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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The park’s 7,800 square kilometers includes forests, savannas, lava plains, swamps, erosion valleys, active volcanoes, and the glaciated peaks of the Rwenzori Mountains. It faces insecurity in Eastern DR Congo and a growing population who seek farm land.
Now, park managers say over 600 Park rangers face great risk from armed groups and poachers as they work to protect the park.
According to Virunga Park authorities, in the past 20 years, over 150 rangers have been killed in the line of duty.

“I hope that running the Virgin Money London Marathon can help us raise crucial funds to support the work we are undertaking in Virunga,” said Mr De Merode, a conservationist who survived an assassination attempt in 2014.

The Virunga National Park (Parc National des Virunga), was established in 1925 as Africa’s first national park and is a Unesco-designated World Heritage Site since 1979.