Updated
climate change mountain gorillas is a subject central to Uganda’s wildlife tourism, where mountain gorilla conservation and responsible visitor experiences go hand in hand. Climate change is a slower, less certain threat to mountain gorillas than disease, snares or conflict, but it matters because the gorillas have nowhere to go. About 1,000 of them live in two small, isolated forests, Bwindi and the Virunga volcanoes, ringed by farmland. Warming and shifting rains could change their food plants, raise disease risk and, above all, put more pressure on the forest from neighbouring farmers whose harvests fail. This guide sets out what scientists know, what is still uncertain, and what conservationists and visitors are doing about it.
Climate change and mountain gorillas: the threats on the horizon
Why mountain gorillas are exposed
Most species can respond to a warming climate by shifting their range, moving uphill or towards the poles. Mountain gorillas cannot. Bwindi covers about 321 km² and the Virunga forests, shared by Uganda, Rwanda and DR Congo, a little over 450 km². Both have hard edges where the forest stops and crops begin, so there is no wider landscape to move into. In the Virungas, the forest already climbs towards the alpine zone below summits of up to 4,507 m, and Bwindi’s highest ridges reach only about 2,600 m.
The population is also small and slow to grow. Females give birth roughly once every four years, so it takes decades to recover from any setback. That is why scientists treat even modest long-term threats seriously. See our overview of Uganda’s endangered animals for how gorillas compare with other species.
What is changing
Temperatures across East Africa’s highlands have risen over recent decades, and climate models project further warming this century, with the size depending on global emissions. Rainfall is harder to predict. Many projections suggest that rains in the Albertine Rift will become more intense and less regular, with heavier downpours and longer dry spells rather than a simple shift to wetter or drier conditions. Local people around Bwindi already report rainy seasons arriving at less predictable times, which affects when they plant.
Food plants
Mountain gorillas eat mainly leaves, stems and pith, with fruit when it is available, and Bwindi’s gorillas eat more fruit than those in the Virungas. Their diet includes well over a hundred plant species, which gives them flexibility. The main concern is seasonal foods whose timing depends on rain. In the Virungas, gorillas move into the bamboo zone when shoots appear after the rains, and changes in rainfall could alter when, or how reliably, those shoots emerge. Read more about the bamboo zone of the Virungas.
In the longer term, warming could change which plants grow at which altitude, with species from lower slopes moving up and some cool-adapted plants declining. Because gorillas eat such a wide range of plants, they may cope with gradual change better than specialist feeders would.
What the models say
Researchers working with the African Wildlife Foundation and the International Gorilla Conservation Programme have modelled how suitable habitat might change under different climate scenarios. Their key finding was that the results depend heavily on the assumptions. Models that treat gorillas as tied to today’s exact climate predict large losses of suitable habitat. Models that allow gorillas to follow their food plants, as their diet suggests they can, predict much smaller losses, with the forests remaining usable for decades.
In other words, nobody can say with confidence how much habitat will be lost. Claims that a precise share of gorilla habitat will disappear by a given year go beyond the evidence. What the research does agree on is that the parks cannot grow and that protecting what is left matters even more in a changing climate.
Disease
Respiratory infections caught from people are already among the main causes of illness and death in mountain gorillas. Climate change could add to this indirectly. Warmer conditions may allow some parasites and disease-carrying insects to survive at higher altitudes, and gorillas stressed by poorer food could be more vulnerable to infection. These risks are still largely theoretical, but they are one reason the vets of Gorilla Doctors monitor the population closely. See our guide to veterinary care for gorillas in Bwindi.
The biggest risk: pressure from people
Most conservationists see the human side of climate change as the greater threat. Families around Bwindi and the Virungas depend on rain-fed farming on steep land. Heavy rain causes landslides and washes away soil, and droughts or failed harvests push people towards the forest for food, firewood, water and land. Climate stress elsewhere in the region, especially in eastern DR Congo, can also worsen conflict and displacement close to the Virungas.
That is why so much climate adaptation work around the parks focuses on people. Projects include improved farming methods and terracing, fuel-efficient stoves that cut firewood use, water tanks, and alternative incomes from tourism and crops such as tea and coffee. The revenue-sharing system, which sends 20% of park entry fees and US$10 from every gorilla permit to neighbouring villages, is part of the same effort. Read about the impact of gorilla tourism on local communities.
Forests, carbon and tourism
Bwindi and the Virunga forests store large amounts of carbon and keep water flowing to farms and towns downstream, so protecting them helps the climate as well as the gorillas. Gorilla tourism pays for much of that protection: a permit costs US$800 (US$600 in April, May and November), and the money funds rangers, monitoring and community projects.
Long-haul flights add to the problem that tourism helps to pay for, and there is no perfect answer to that. Travelling less often but staying longer, choosing operators and lodges with real conservation programmes, and supporting reforestation around the parks all help. Our guide to carbon offsetting and gorilla trekking looks at the options honestly.
Frequently asked questions
It may change their food plants, add to disease risk and, most importantly, increase pressure on the forest from neighbouring communities affected by droughts, floods and failed harvests.
Not really. Their two forests are small and surrounded by farmland, so they cannot shift their range the way many species can.
Nobody knows precisely. Models give very different answers depending on their assumptions, and some suggest gorillas can adapt by following their food plants.
Strict protection of the parks, disease monitoring and community projects in better farming, water, fuel-efficient stoves and tourism income.
