** Uvira: Hippopotams, victims of an unacceptable inheritance **
The cry of the heart of Joshua Aruna resonates like a last note of music before silence, a melody that too little seem to hear. It is not only a triptych of poaching, threats and biodiversity that it deploys from the territory of Uvira, in South Kivu. No, it is a desperate call to a collective consciousness, an awareness of the fragility of our ecological heritage. But in this quest to save the hippopotamia which he hopes to arouse the attention of the world, hides a much more disturbing question: why, when these emblematic mammals carry the promise of a rich biodiversity, does their fate seem so little worrying for the general public?
The situation of hippopotams of Ruzizi and Lake Tanganyika is a mirror tense to our unconsciousness. While four hippopotams were killed last week in Luvungi, is it really poaching that is at the heart of the problem, or could we see further, towards the roots of this tragedy? Isn’t poaching, in many ways, the symptom of a chronic disease: the disconnection of man with nature, a nature which, obviously, no longer seems so important as that in our time when immediate profitability has taken precedence over environmental considerations?
When Joshua Aruna evokes “serious violations of environmental rights”, he does not only state an observation. There is a dramatic depth in these words, a very real sadness. Hippopotams are not just animals; They are symbols of the natural richness of the region, but also an aspect of our collective identity. However, the dominant economic model, turned towards the relentless exploitation of resources, has tangled us in new consumption dynamics that condemn the savage to obsolescence. The question that deserves to be asked is: how far can we sacrifice biodiversity on the altar of profit?
To put things in perspective, let us remember that beyond rivers and lakes, in Africa and elsewhere, it is water that often makes the price of these resources. Hippopotams, as an architects of their ecosystem, contribute to environmental regulation. By eliminating them, are we not unconsciously sawing the branch on which we are seated? Each hippopotamus killed is an open door to the erosion of banks, an invitation to ecological chain disturbances, which ultimately affect what we call “our” land.
And yet, in this fervent struggle offered by Aruna and environmental civil society, a palpable distrust emerges. National consultation for the protection of biodiversity is ironically necessary when the land of community precepts has been abandoned which, in the past, guaranteed harmonious coexistence with fauna. Why should we debate the value of an emblematic species instead of raising it up to a shared identity? Is this disarticulation between man and his environment not the symptom of a development model that no longer seems in tune with the living?
It is crucial to redefine what it means, as a community, to be the guardian of our environment. Hippopotams should not be perceived as simple resources to be exploited or as figures on a hunting board. They are vectors of life, not only for their companions in the savannah, but also for human populations which depend directly on their habitat. It’s time to wonder: how does the safeguard of these creatures, so often considered “ugly” and “heavy”,, is it the key to a lasting future for all of humanity?
The preservation of biodiversity is not just a question of ecology; It engulfs in its nets the economy, culture, identity. It is high time to redefine the contours of our collective conscience, before the last hippopotamus falls under the bullets of men who, too, only operate in desperate pressure. Pressure on survival, momentum towards destruction, or the possibility of co-constructing a future where man and nature can, finally, be reconciled. Time to act, for the love of hippopotams and our planet, is also a time to love life in all its forms.