BOGOR, Indonesia (9 November, 2011)_Efforts to save the Cross River gorilla, Africa’s most endangered ape, received renewed hope after the United Nations (UN) recently approved $4 million to help Nigeria further promote conservation and sustainable forest management.

Environmentalists welcomed the news, which will help fund the country’s National Programme for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) program, but warned that cooperation and education between all stakeholders, particularly local players, is key to preserving the species.

“Gorillas and chimps are protected by national and international law, but the reality is that that doesn’t actually happen … you have to have local buy-in,” said CIFOR Associate Jacqueline Sunderland-Groves, co-author of Remote Sensing Analysis Reveals Habitat, Dispersal Corridors and Expanded Distribution for the Critically Endangered Cross River gorilla Gorilla gorilla diehli.

To read more of this article, visit the CIFOR Forests blog.