By Dr. Jake Owens
I am excited to share a new biodiversity initiative that was recently announced at the ‘Gathering for Gorillas’ event at Los Angeles Zoo, which provides you with the unique opportunity to help support the conservation of Grauer’s gorillas in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Along with our nonprofit support organization, the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association (GLAZA), the Zoo is helping its conservation partner, the Gorilla Rehabilitation and Conservation Education (GRACE) Center, with the creation of the Usala Conservation Corridor, which will connect two critical biodiversity hotspots in the DRC.
This ambitious project will connect two critically important but disconnected protected areas, Maiko National Park and Tayna Nature Reserve, by developing a wildlife habitat corridor in one of the most biodiverse forests in the world. Not only will the Usala Corridor ensure that habitat for gorillas, elephants, okapis, pangolins, and other vulnerable species is protected in perpetuity, it will also contribute 346,000 acres of land to the global initiative to designate 30% of Earth’s land and ocean area as protected areas by 2030. This is critical to fighting both the biodiversity crisis and climate change.
It’s also critically important to recognize that because of the community-driven philosophy of GRACE, this corridor will ensure local communities in the region will obtain land rights for sustainable management of their tribal lands.
This project and the partnership between GRACE and the Los Angeles Zoo demonstrates the significant positive impact that Los Angeles is capable of having on global biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation. To put it in perspective, the City of Los Angeles covers an area of 321,000 acres– this means the City is supporting a critical biodiversity hotspot that is nearly 25,000 acres larger than itself. That is something to be proud of and the level of impact that we should be striving for.
I urge you to learn more about GRACE and what you can do to help save wildlife both here in Los Angeles and across the world. If you’d like to support this initiative, please visit lazoo.org/donate.
