What is Gorilla Conservation Coffee? And how is it unique?

Hidden in the dense rainforests that stretch across the southwest border of Uganda, dwells a gentle giant that has intrigued and amazed the world for hundreds of years. Uganda is home to half of the remaining estimated 1,063 mountain gorillas alive today, but struggling for a tomorrow. Surrounding their protected habitat are isolated and impoverished communities. Due to their close proximity both inside and outside the national park, preventable infectious diseases are being spread between humans, gorillas and livestock. This along with habitat encroachment, poaching and economic instability, is threatening the existence of the mountain gorilla.

Gorilla Conservation Coffee was launched after Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka visited farmers living adjacent to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. Here she learned that the farmers were not being given a fair price for their coffee and were struggling hard to survive, forcing them to use the national park to meet their basic family needs for food and fuel wood

Gorilla Conservation Coffee is a social enterprise of Conservation Through Public Health, founded by Dr. Gladys, who was the first Wildlife Veterinary Officer of the Uganda Wildlife Authority. Dr. Gladys recently became a National Geographic Explorer and winner of the Sierra Club’s 2018 EarthCare Award.