BEGo

The UNESCO General Conference adopted in November 1972, the World Heritage Convention. As per August 2002, 174 countries were Parties to the WHC Convention. These State Parties get together at least twice a year to approve new inscriptions of sites, to review the state of conservation of the inscribed sites and to agree upon on various other actions dedicated to the conservation of the 730 (as per August 2002) World Heritage sites that are inscribed today on the World Heritage list.

To foster this objective, UNESCO and the European Space Agency (ESA) have proposed to undertake a joint initiative demonstrating the application of Earth Observation and other Space Technologies (e.g. Navigation and Positioning, Communication) in support to State Parties signatories of the Convention. In the context of this initiative, ESA and UNESCO initiated a joint project, "Build Environment for Gorilla" (BEGo), aimed at developing EO-based products and services for covering the information needs of the different national and international organizations working in the conservation and preservation of the different World Heritage sites in danger. The project focused on the development of base maps, land cover/use maps, DEMs and change-detection maps to support the work of the different national and international organisations involved in the conservation and monitoring of gorillas.

The area of interest encompassed south-western Uganda, western Rwanda and parts of the Kivus situated in Easter DRC. Inside that area, the project focuses on three main World Heritage Sites: Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (Uganda), Virunga National Park (DRC), and the Kahuzi-Biega National Park (DRC). In addition to these sites, in order to provide a more complete coverage of the area hosting gorillas, the project also includes two sites that are directly contiguous to the Virunga National Park and that harbour mountain gorillas: Volcanoes National Park (Rwanda) and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park (Uganda).