Emmanuel de Merode

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Emmanuel de Merode - 2013

Emmanuel de Merode (born May 5, 1970 in Carthage , Tunisia ) is a Belgian nobleman and since 2008 the director of the Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo . He achieved fame among other things through the documentary Virunga , which appeared on Netflix and was nominated for an Oscar in the category " Best Documentary ".

background

Emmanuel de Merode was born in Carthage, Tunisia, in 1970 and grew up in Kenya . He is the second son of Charles Guillaume, Prince (Fürst) de Merode , the head of the entire Merode House, and his wife Princesse Hedwige de Ligne . His family is one of the two oldest and most influential noble families in Belgium. He holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from University College London .

Career

Emmanuel de Merode is an anthropologist, pilot and conservationist. He campaigns against the bushmeat trade and for animal species that are dying out in Central and East Africa. His focus is on supporting so-called rangers from national parks . He mainly supports national parks in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and tries to maintain them during the civil war. He wrote 14 scientific books and was one of the authors of the book Virunga: The Survival of Africa's First National Park.

On August 1st, 2008 he was appointed director of the Virunga National Park by the Congolese government. After swearing allegiance to the Congolese flag, he became the first foreigner allowed to make judicial decisions in war-torn Central Africa. Merode now lives in Rumangabo, the headquarters of the national park. About 680 parking attendants work for him here. He puts a lot of work into the park's extraordinary, wild fauna. Some of the animals are critically endangered in the area, such as the mountain gorillas , okapis , elephants and chimpanzees . His breakthrough came when he brokered an agreement between the government and the rebel leader Laurent Nkunda . It was agreed that the habitats of the mountain gorillas would not be damaged by the civil war and that the park rangers would also be allowed to patrol the rebel territory.

Due to the chronic insecurity and a series of violent wars in eastern Congo, Merode focused on initiatives for economic development to make the region more stable. In 2013 he supported the start of the Virunga Alliance to use the post-war economy of Eastern Congo as an instrument to rebuild peace. The initiative is based on 127 local private sector institutions, civil societies and government agencies who want to ensure the sustainable development of the park's resources through tourism, rural electrification, fisheries and agriculture.

At his swearing-in ceremony, Merode said: “The intensity of the conflict in and around the park makes it frightening, but it is a great privilege to work alongside such a dedicated and courageous team of rangers. I have real confidence in our ability to secure a future for the park to ensure that it makes a positive contribution to the lives of the people of North Kivu. "

attack

On April 15, 2014, Emmanuel de Merode was shot five times in the chest and abdomen area by unknown perpetrators on his way back from Goma to Rumangabo. He survived, was able to leave the attack site with the help of local residents and was operated on in a local hospital in Goma. The investigation into the motives and the identity of the attackers was taken over by the Congolese authorities.

Merode returned to Virunga National Park on May 22, 2014 and has continued his work as park director ever since.

family

Merode married Louise Leakey , a paleontologist from Kenya, in 2003. They have two daughters together.

Awards

In 2015, Merode was one of two winners to receive the KfW Bernhard Grzimek Prize , worth a total of 50,000 euros, for his work in the Virunga National Park .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Special Report: Congo's Mountain Gorillas - National Geographic Adventure Magazine . Adventure.nationalgeographic.com.
  2. ^ Virunga Alliance . virunga.org.
  3. ^ Belgian Emmanuel de Merode shot in DR Congo ambush . BBC News.
  4. ^ Abe Streep: The Belgian Prince Taking Bullets to Save the World's Most Threatened Park . Outsideonline.com.
  5. ↑ KfW Bernhard Grzimek Prize 2015 goes to Emmanuel de Merode and Pavan Suhkdev. Retrieved May 1, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Merode, Emmanuel de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Belgian nobleman, conservationist
DATE OF BIRTH May 5th 1970
PLACE OF BIRTH Carthage , Tunisia