the last gorillas of the room africa's oldest national park because of its immense riches it's also the most endangered. in april twenty twelve wolf once again flared up in north kivu in the eastern democratic republic of congo a rebel group the m twenty three took control of the region including covering up the park. yet another episode in what's often been called the forgotten war in the country. it is claimed six million lives in twenty years. suddenly we heard shots. really ran away and heard the villagers being shot. they killed my husband and my parents along. with the treasures of the congo are

a curse. at the heart of the seemingly endless war other regions extensive resources its forests lakes and soils are systematically plundered to finance the slaughter. where mining town here is that dangerous. yes we could die here and if we survive there's still the minerals from. what should be a blessing is a curse here in the virunga region its vast mineral wealth has plunged the population into extreme poverty. is if you get to be in the civil war is driven by a canonical. it's closely intertwined with the illegal exploitation not natural resources. and the world's poorest have to pay the price with this environmental

destruction just like. in the us is the director of the national park he and his ranges want to break the vicious cycle of over exploitation and war. in the forest. on mountain iraq angle they risk their lives to restore the last bond between humans and nature. is a jewel of nature it was founded in one nine hundred twenty five with the aim of protecting the mountain gorilla population that was and insurgencies are destroying the

region's ecosystem. by. zero six and i. doubt that dozens of groups who roam the park pose a permanent danger says a man who admitted. in the southern sector in the forest areas near the city of goma over a million people eat firewood. it's controlled timber production which is now done on an almost industrial scale. it's mainly the f.b.i. the democratic forces for the liberation of rwanda they're considered the perpetrators of the genocide. then there are the regional my my militia groups north of here they are the main course behind illegal fishing they make a fortune with it. there is also the a.t.f.

now do a ugandan rep agrippa that is murdered over one thousand civilians in the last year and a half. here in the middle of the danger zone so to speak in the last year they have been countless attacks we've lost five rangers here. is home to the headquarters of the part southern sector which is where the guerrillas live. every time the rangers go out on patrol they risk confrontations with militias to six hundred ranges to find eight thousand square kilometers of forest three hundred kilometers from north to south an area about the size of the. fighting on two fronts not only do they have to drive the armed groups out of the park they also have to keep the local population out.

our mission is to protect the system. we have chosen this work and we're ready to give our lives to save the mountain gorillas from extinction. many of our colleagues have died doing their jobs i tell my men to be proud of their work as rangers appear on good national park. that there if you think of that got that if. i guess i do we. were. according to united nations estimates the virunga national park ranges are up against five to eight thousand heavily armed militiamen an army of different rebel groups all with the same goal the illegal extraction over all materials. the ranges of the last line of defense protecting nature and often deadly position.

when the civil war was raging here there were dangers looking everywhere for the rangers. about one hundred forty of our men lost their lives protecting the ecosystem. system. in fact in twenty years of civil war a total of one hundred and fifty rangers have been killed the highest bloodshed ever to occur in protecting in the nature is a the militias in the area where the guerrillas live mainly control the illegal timber trade and poaching. in light of the ten security situation in the new end of made a radical decision he has his ranges undergo combat training. we're told are just well they're grown not just told to sit back six you know ok.

here in the room nature conservation is more like a military operation. the ranges are trained by former belgian and french elite soltis. there are problems and also at the moment the central sector is most affected. these are the militias facilities the heavily armored. humvee an army. here they're recruiting new soldiers on. the park's technology has been upgraded so the area can be monitored more efficiently every yunis and every operation is coordinated in real time. in a seat illegal fishing on lake edward that generates an annual turnover of around

forty two million dollars africa shelving legal logging in the south of the park which is destroying more and more virgin forests geddes which has an annual turnover of thirty four million dollars. dollars forty now so lots of money is involved in this we're talking about over one hundred million dollars a year enough to maintain these private armies these comeback groups and militias who are responsible for the desolate situation in the eastern democratic republic of congo yes and second i know has a lesser layer. a lot of. i think only the illegal trade in charcoal feeds the entire province of north kivu it's the feel of war. eleven million people depend on it some three hundred thousand tons illegally produced here every year this is how the black gold is

made. you for sticking with we lay a new fire to make charcoal. to be longer on the moon. or not to have to not even first we cover it with leaves. and then seen it tightly with mud merrily so that the leaves don't catch fire. the wood should burn very slowly. v. we use it to buy salt clothes or oil we pay the school fees for the children. everything with money from the charcoal the mccollum. to say. my beautiful run we bring the cold sharks to the wholesale markets and saki and goma. the ninety five years of the overall. mccullough is transported to the cities by bicycle or on trucks steep population growth has led

to soaring demand for charcoal. in north kivu ninety seven percent of people live without electricity coal is their only source of energy. in goma the capital of north kivu the streets are black with search. this huge cold that is run by cecile . i'm allowed to. question my carlo because there's no electricity here in goma you have only one option. in goma and in the rest of congo. and a bunch of poor label everywhere heat and coke with mccullough. meanwhile you're frying meat or cooking beams a call on you need. coal is the only fuel source in our everyday lives rich or poor

we all depend on luck our. world my site also has more than a million inhabitants who get there are hundred and fifty to two hundred truckloads of mccalla every day. their obituary nine hundred forty and two hundred bags on each truck exactly like this is a bucket list and. that's thousands of felled trees every day none of them from the room or park supposedly to one up. color from the national park is very rare in the past f.t.l. our militia soldiers supplied us with charcoal from virunga park. but if we get caught selling them a card today we go to jail for years. but the fact is the illegal charcoal trade is impossible to control and it's destroying

the park. if it goes unchecked there will be no forests left in the eastern congo in less than ten years. that's why part or rectory money where the motherhood's top priority is to develop alternative energy sources. he wants to use the large rivers in the room to supply the province of north kivu with electricity. a first hydroelectric power plant was completed last year in the table. that's a bit of a trinity my temp is just the beginning so far the power plant has been producing thirteen megawatts but with a bit of luck we'll reach one hundred megawatts in five years watts to five hundred megawatts is twice rwanda's total energy production and twenty five times the amount of electricity currently supplying the city of goma. thank you and that the park could make an enormous contribution to the energy supply in the province.

after weeks of electricity. to the really natural event by building a new energy economy that doesn't depend on the legal exploitation of natural resources we're cutting off the source of money on groups that they don't have and secondly we offer alternative employment to the young men who would otherwise join these groups see no profit on it made. an ambitious project for a region like north kivu the park is pushing the twenty million dollar cost with money donated from foundations in many way to mccloud believes it's with us and obvious that in the long term alternative energy will create up to one hundred thousand jobs. he wants to prove to the locals that protecting nature is more profitable than destroying it. more and more households throughout north kivu are now connected to the power plant. but where they get their energy from is not

necessarily the population's first concern farmers are desperately looking for new arab a land who has priority. conflicts on the edges of the conservation zone are multiplying the room to has already lost tens of thousands of hectares of land here in ritchie route farmers are challenging the current boundaries of the park. need a med for the father we are a thousand metres away from the very long a national park. so lovely no other words the border of the park supposedly runs a thousand metres from here flooded but it's moved five hundred metres closer. and now the locals in the park administration are arguing about it with the seal of. a fucking us with. beautiful on the animals and we want them to be protected the

environment must also be protected but not at the expense of the people who live here it's. the national park conflict with. emmanuel demo trying to negotiate with the people he's rangers have to protect the park but they must also understand that we. are not going to. leave some animals come out of the forest and destroy our fields so what about our interests. without. harvest if only there were at least development projects here if only areas were cleared for roads and fields and schools built for children. or.

for the locals the national park means less income a congolese family can make one thousand dollars a year with one hectare of arable land there one million hectares of protected learned in the reserve. the park administration is aware of the problem. don't get to be many t.v.'s beneath the city for us to continue having these gorillas and elephants the local population loses out on more than a billion dollars a year. that's a high price and it's not fair. it's our city initiatives you know what we have to find a solution of the park is to survive. that's true because in the end it's up to the locals and their point of view is understandable point. that the families have to make a living somehow knew that they need a future. we want the park to continue we need an alternative that generates at

least a billion dollars a year. and we can't do that alone. it took so long for yeah you did to start. the park director has formed partnerships with public and private donors and investors the e.u. has awarded the room to park fifteen million euros. and not scale project called eco mccullough has also been launched to cultivate sustainable resources here on the edges of the protected area. fast growing eucalyptus trees have been planted on eleven thousand hectares of land in a project designed to conserve. the forests in the reserve and also to help the locals. the premier is a project has two aspects first it converts the poverty of the local population to newly planted trees provide small farmers with an income but the bizarre bit of

plant the busy. secondly the eco mccollough projects reforestation effort protects the people here from the threat of armed groups lurking in the jungle. making their here but. on an even money. it's much better to work on this plantation. dangerous in the park how does it one and a good many women and young girls have to go there every day on our summer raid others even killed now and you know i know why we're. in spared that fate among us me me i'm lucky enough to manage this little piece of foreign central you need for me to nuke up. you not touch would make my karma and i can feed my family you know. must be what the bomber could act.

those who do not have their own plot of land continue to collect wood on the edge of the park. almost four million people live in less than a day's walk from the room and they all help themselves a small bundle of brushwood provides what they need for daily survival. that i live at that level yeah. i know it's forbidden to cut wood near the park but what should i do. either that or i can't give my children anything to eat today. the brushwood earns me five hundred congolese francs and i buy sweet potatoes with it it's not much but everything else is too expensive for us.

one mini. bus an income this way puts the women in great danger thousands of men roam the reserve and here at the edge of the forest women are easy prey. you know you had to put out that novel that. we come here with fear in our hearts. and we work fast so we won't be raped. when they catch you. until my life is broken. he can't tell anyone you must live alone with your suffering you know. daily life is fraught with risk here in the ring. to locals the national park is both a vital resource and a looming threat. to. environmental

conservation is a constant challenge in the democratic republic of congo. the park rangers face a moral dilemma should they protect people. or nature. to my sister if you don't go on the slopes of the wrong as volcanoes including in rwanda and uganda there are only eight hundred eighty mountain gorillas left and they need protection you just. see they are threatened with extinction just eight hundred eighty mountain gorillas on our huge continent and only three countries congo uganda and rwanda to sit in on the feet down for peace that even a formal got. a little under.

now based on democracy population growth is threatening the grill is natural habitat. in the skill level that some people here need fertile farmland and the park is the only place where they can find it like a park. in fact that's why they destroy the gorillas habitat they need fertile farmland. in fifty of. the silverback has become a symbol of the national parks struggle for survival. but the fight also takes

a heavy toll on the families of the one hundred fifty ranges killed in action just so these tragedies are often eclipsed by the plight of the gorillas. i'm funny if you will my husband died in one thousand nine hundred ninety two. he was killed in the park working to protect the gorillas i knew while my husband died on january twenty second twenty sixteen. he was on duty and kabaddi that hunting poachers. i did here my husband was killed on patrol in for i'm going to park. to help the widows of the rangers who lost their lives the park set up a sewing business last september the women make seventy s. were tourists. like i want to wipe out. the park

build this little workshop for us because our men were killed in a service. i think. of. him anywhere to move out and his coworkers collect donations abroad in order to pay these families thirty dollars a month. each of these stars stands for a ranger who was killed you know every day every star lost to a ranger who died for the park. but i think in the last of my husband died i was completely destitute. of the park or sora trees offered me help. but now the park provides a livelihood for me and my family. my children can even go to the park so no

school for charge what i'm up but. it's the passage complexity we must accept that we are first and foremost at the service of the people who live in the surrounding area people that we don't succeed in sharing the resources of the park with them we have failed in our work and we have failed in our mission and i don't feel.

and without any illness. is that possible let's scientists are going into the city owns researching the future of agriculture strips of wild flowers which could replace pesticides food plants for. the fertilizer and a balance between high yield on diversity to be found to morrow to. clue. your possible chain reaction of the grass.

around six hundred years ago. in the renaissance. architects. scientists are. trying to gauge how the darkest militants are going to remain. in forty five minutes long d.w. . like like the gentleman with. any time any place. a music video never. have on the back of those. songs to sing along to download. it is the combo

from super. to be able to. have very good causes for that into active exercises that are available and d.-w. dot com slash adoption and on facebook in the app store. learn german first for a deafening. hello and welcome to tomorrow today the science show on d w coming up on this edition. learning from nature's example how wild plants and insects can boost agriculture. the science behind medicinal plants researchers are unlocking leonsis. but first spiders and their potential role in medicine this.