October - 2019

36 / PEOPLE / Conservationists
PEOPLE / 37
Olivier
Nsengimana
Emmanuel
de Merode
Age
35
Age
49
Role
Founder and Executive Director of the Rwanda
Wildlife Conservation Association (RWCA)
Role
Director and Chief Warden of the Virunga National
Park
Country
Rwanda
Country
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)
Memorable moment
Releasing RWCA’s first rescued grey crowned cranes
back into nature
Memorable moment
Bringing electricity via hydropower to the
communities around Virunga National Park
Achievements
2019 Future for Nature Award
2018 Whitley Award
2017 National Geographic’s Buffett Award for
Leadership in Conservation
2016 Tusk Conservation Awards Finalist
2014 Rolex Young Laureate
Achievements
2018 Freedom from Want award
2015 Rolex National Geographic Explorer of the Year
2015 Tusk Award for Conservation in Africa
Online
virunga.org
Online
rwandawildlife.org
Getty images
Getty images
“Our childhood superhero was the grey crowned crane.
We would watch it soar and fly above us and try to imitate it”
“For me, it’s beyond doubt that without the Netflix film,
the park would not exist today”
“When I was young, growing up in a rural village, our
childhood superhero was the grey crowned crane. We would
watch it soar and fly above us and try to imitate it,” said Olivier
Nsengimana during his talk at the Fall Expo 2018. But, due to
shrinking marshland habitat and widespread poaching the
crane’s presence in the wild had – at one point – decreased by
80 percent to less than 500 birds in Rwanda.
“Local communities who live next to wetlands hunt cranes
and sell them as cheaply as chickens to those who want to display
them in their gardens,” he said. “The crane is a symbol of wealth
and longevity.”
Unfortunately, grey crowned cranes rarely breed in captivity,
so in 2014, Nsengimana (formerly a gorilla vet) decided to switch
specialty and create an amnesty programme – together with the
government – for Rwandans to declare captive cranes without
penalties. This enabled the RWCA to register and monitor the
birds. Those healthy enough to return to the wild are treated for
diseases. After that, they’re placed in a rehabilitation facility in
Akagera National Park. From there, they fly back into nature
when they’re ready. To date, 287 birds have been registered and
203 have been placed in the rehabilitation facility. Of those, 153
have been reintroduced to the wild.
In order to prevent rescued cranes from being recaptured,
Nsengimana now devotes most of his energy to community
work. The RWCA attends market days countrywide, providing
entertainment and prizes as well as wildlife education. And, as
a way of helping the cranes to regain the hero status they had
during his childhood, Nsengimana uses a comic book to help
kids to learn the importance of nature and wildlife. “Kids are
the future of conservation,” he said. “If cranes become Rwandan
children’s superheroes once again, their chances of survival
will become much greater.”
“When I was a teenager, I remember my parents telling
me that gorillas were a species on the edge of extinction and I
would never get to see them,” said Belgian Prince Emmanuel
de Merode at the 2016 We Are Africa Conference. Instead,
their survival has been “one of Virunga’s greatest conservation
success stories”.
The park’s gorilla population has increased from about 480
individuals in 2010 to a minimum count of 604 individuals in
2016. And now, in the flanks of thickly forested mountains,
they’re the park’s main attraction.
But this extraordinary place, which hosts the most diverse
range of wildlife and varied terrain of any park, is located in an
area of great conflict on the border of Rwanda, Uganda and
DRC. “Illegal exploitation of resources, including a US$35
million charcoal trade, has resulted in long-running conflict,
which spills into the park,” added De Merode. He’s the only
foreign national in the country bestowed with judicial powers,
which have allowed him to open discussions with rebel forces
and persuade them to stop shooting in the park.
The complex struggle to preserve the park’s unique flora
and fauna took a turn in 2012 when British oil company, Soco,
began to explore for oil. The conflict that ensued was depicted
in the award-winning Netflix documentary, Virunga, which
ultimately contributed to Soco pulling out of the park.
“For me, it’s beyond doubt that without the Netflix film,
the park would not exist today,” said De Merode. “The film
helped generate interest towards an ambitious programme
encompassing hydro-electricity, schools and micro loans for
the local population to better their quality of living. We have
some four million of the poorest people living around here and
they make the greatest sacrifice to have this area pristine for the
overall betterment of mankind.”