The 2009 Charities

Wild gorillas and chimpanzees are on the brink of extinction. Habitat loss and poaching threaten these great species like never before.

Our goals are to address the immediate threats faced by gorillas and chimpanzees in Africa, and to work with local communities to develop long-term solutions that protect them well into the future – ensuring their survival.

Ape Action Africa is home to 17 gorillas, over 80 chimpanzees and many species of monkey. We have more than 250 primates in our care in the tropical rainforest of Mefou National Park, near Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon.

Once these animals are in our care we work around the clock to save them by providing urgent veterinary care and nourishment. When they are strong enough, the young orphans are taken to our centre in the heart of West Africa – Cameroon’s Mefou National Park. Ape Action Africa operates its protection programme from the Park and with the support and assistance of the local community.

Our main fundraising project this year is to build an enclosure for our young gorillas. They have rapidly outgrown their nursery enclosure and we need to build a large enclosure to give them the space and security to grow and develop into happy, healthy adults. Construction has started but we have had to stop building until we can raise more money to buy materials and pay the construction workers.

We also have a constant struggle to find the funds to feed our animals and give them the veterinary care that they need. Inflation has finally hit Cameroon, so for the first time in the 12 years of the project, we are battling with rising food costs. Animal food is our major cost and with food costs escalating, this is becoming increasingly difficult to fund.

We have been working hard on our name, logo and website, all of which are about to change so watch this space for our new look! We are building a completely new website, and we plan to have a page on the new site for the Africa Rally. But don’t worry, you won’t be out of touch with us because cwaf.org will redirect to the new site once it goes live in a few weeks time.

For more information please visit the Ape Action Africa website.

The Send a Cow project benefiting from the rally began in 2007 and is in the far North region of Cameroon. Farmers there are faced with a very different set of problems.

The area is very arid with a long dry season so growing crops is challenging. Livestock herding is common in this area and there is conflict for land resources between croppers and herders. We are helping people to successfully combine livestock and crop growing in the arid conditions and to improve their environment.

We are working with families firstly to help them with land rights to overcome some of the community tensions that currently exist and to address gender issues so that everyone in the family is involved. We are then providing training in natural farming techniques, helping farmers to improve their soils through compost manure and water conservation. This enables people to extend their growing season and to boost crop yields in this harsh climate.

We are also providing sheep, pigs, goats and donkeys along with training in animal husbandry and care, helping families to raise livestock on their farm rather than through free-grazing. In addition we are providing training in building fuel efficient stoves and planting trees to help protect against land degradation.

Families there have already seen many benefits. The training has bought communities and families together. Many families report that they are all now involved in household and farm chores as well as sharing the benefits together. Providing donkeys to help with ploughing has made a big difference, enabling more land to be opened up for cropping. Crop yields have increased significantly and farmers are starting to earn a good income from selling their offspring, particularly sheep and pigs.

For more information please visit the Send a Cow website.

Globally RFUK campaigns to influence national and international laws to protect rainforests and their inhabitants. Since it was founded in 1989 the Rainforest Foundation has helped indigenous and local communities to protect more than 100,000 square kilometers of rainforest.

Cameroon’s landscape is over 45% rainforest and has some of the richest biodiversity in the world. RFUK has been working within Cameroon for over 12 years, joining with local partner organisations to protect forests and improve the lives of indigenous people including the Baka, Bakola, Bedzang and Bagyeli (BBBB) 'Pygmy' peoples.

Their presence in the forests, for hundreds of years, provides these communities’ with unequalled knowledge of the forests and their management. Over the past 50 years, this source of expertise has been neglected and much of the forests have been handed over to industrial logging companies to be exploited and mismanaged.

The 40,000 ‘pygmy’ peoples in Cameroon have been marginalized, denied access to their land and suffered extreme poverty and widespread discrimination, having almost no recognition of their basic rights, including their rights to land. RFUK is working with local partners to help gain rights to land and livelihoods and secure the long term protection of these vital forests.

For more information please visit the The Rainforest Foundation UK website.