Gorillas & Elephants, People & Parks: Lessons in Conservation and Conflict from Central Africa

Dr. Bill Weber has worked for 30 years in the field of international conservation, combining action to save wild lands and wildlife with concern for local human needs. He has lived in Africa for ten years, including seven years in Rwanda where he initiated the highly successful mountain gorilla tourism and community outreach program. His experiences in Rwanda are described in the book, In the Kingdom of Gorillas, which he wrote with his wife, Dr. Amy Vedder. Their book was featured by BBC Wildlife as one of ³the most influential books from the past 40 years of wildlife publishing² and selected as a ³Best Science and Nature book² by National Public Radio. As director of the Wildlife Conservation Society¹s Africa Program from 1988 through 1996, Dr. Weber created a Congo Basin Program that helped establish more than twenty new protected areas, produced the first reliable data on forest elephant and great ape populations, and developed effective alliances with local communities and partners. As WCS North America Program director from 1996 to 2005, Weber turned his attention to wildlife recovery, ecological connectivity, energy development, and community-based conservation from Alaska to the Adirondacks. Following a three-year return to Rwanda in 2006, he is currently teaching, speaking, and writing a book on his experiences in Africa and North America.

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