Bonn / Libreville, 4 September 2008: Gabon has acceded to the CMS Gorilla Agreement with effect from 1 November 2008. It thereby becomes the sixth range state to join the Agreement (there are ten in total) The accession was signed by H.E. Laure Gondjout, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation, Francophonie and Regional Integration of the Republic of Gabon.

By becoming a Party Gabon joins the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda.

This legally binding Agreement on the Conservation of Gorillas and Their Habitats came into effect in June this year and was agreed upon by representatives of nine African Range States at a meeting hosted by the Government of France and CMS in Paris in October 2007.

The main objective of the Agreement is to conserve and restore the highly threatened Gorilla populations in Central and West Africa through an Action Plan covering education, research and forest protection. The Gorilla Agreement will be jointly serviced by the CMS Secretariat and the Great Apes Survival Project Partnership (GRASP), an alliance of over 30 Governments, UN agencies and numerous voluntary bodies.

The First Meeting of Parties to the Gorilla Agreement will take place in Rome, Italy, on 29 November 2008, and directly precedes CMS COP9.