Tracking the gorillas of the Congo Basin

This is an audio transcript of the FT News Briefing podcast episode: ‘Tracking the gorillas of the Congo Basin’

Josh Gabert-Doyon
Good morning from the Financial Times. Today is Wednesday, July 5th, and this is your FT News Briefing.

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Israel’s raid on the West Bank reignites Palestinian anger. Switzerland is looking into potential Russian sanctions violations. We continue our series on the Congo River basin. Plus, meme stock traders shop for Bed Bath & Beyond.

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I’m Josh Gabert-Doyon, in for Marc Filippino, and here’s the news you need to start your day.

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There are fears of escalating violence after Israel conducted a military raid in the occupied West Bank, the biggest raid in two decades. Thousands of Palestinians have since fled the Jenin refugee camp, and a Palestinian driver rammed his car into pedestrians in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, injuring eight. The Israeli army said its raid was aimed at destroying infrastructure and weapons used by militant groups. Meanwhile, UN aid agencies have expressed alarm at the scale of the Israeli military operation. As of Tuesday evening, 10 Palestinians had been killed in the raid.

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There are signs that the Swiss government is taking a tougher position when it comes to sanctions against Russia. Switzerland is known as the centre of the global commodities trade and authorities there have been looking into one Geneva-based trader named Paramount. It’s one of the first known efforts by a European country to investigate compliance with western sanctions on Russian oil. Tom Wilson, the FT’s energy correspondent, broke the story.

Tom Wilson
Paramount Energy & Commodities was set up by a veteran oil trader called Niels Troost, who is well-connected in Russia. And they’ve been able to create a niche for themselves over recent years as a prominent supplier of this particular type of crude, which is exported from Kozmino, a port in Russia’s far east and generally supplied to Chinese refineries.

Josh Gabert-Doyon
Like the EU, Switzerland put a $60 price cap on barrels of Russian oil after the Ukrainian invasion. But the type of crude that Paramount specialises in, called the ESPO-blend, has consistently traded above that cap.

Tom Wilson
Switzerland has enforced or mirrored the EU sanctions on crude, which basically means the $60 price cap. However, generally under Swiss law, that only applies to Swiss companies. So Swiss companies’ overseas subsidiaries, even if those subsidiaries are wholly owned by the Swiss parent, can ultimately do what they want. They’re not bound by Swiss law. So in this case, Paramount Energy & Commodities ceased trading Russian crude oil last year, but then its wholly owned subsidiary in the UAE picked up their business and has continued to trade ESPO-blend crude from Far Eastern Russia. Pricing data demonstrates that the principal crude being traded by Paramount’s Dubai-based entity continue to trade above the cap. So exactly how the US government would feel about this scenario, a Dubai-based subsidiary of a Swiss company potentially trading oil above the cap, that remains to be seen.

Josh Gabert-Doyon
In April Swiss authorities sent a letter to Paramount asking them for more information about their relationship to its Dubai-based subsidiary.

Tom Wilson
So that may sound like a relatively small measure. One letter in the post, as it were. However, it’s quite important and significant because it’s the first time in so far that we’re aware that the Swiss government has really done anything to start to police compliance with the sanctions regime.

Josh Gabert-Doyon
Paramount, we should note, say that they’re in the legal clear.

Tom Wilson
Paramount ultimately acknowledges most of the facts in the story, and Paramount’s view is not that they are circumventing sanctions, rather that they are complying with sanctions, ie, they’ve ceased trading this oil out of the Swiss entity and now using the Dubai-based entity.

Josh Gabert-Doyon
But Tom says we might be seeing a broader move towards sanctions enforcement in Geneva and beyond.

Tom Wilson
When I speak to sanctions officials, it seems that 2022 was the year in which sanctions were introduced, and 2023 was going to be the year in which sanctions were policed. And maybe that’s what we’re seeing here.

Josh Gabert-Doyon
The FT’s energy correspondent is Tom Wilson.

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Today we go back to the Congo Basin rainforest. It’s often called the lungs of the world because it’s so important to the Earth’s climate. But new research shows tree cover equivalent to the size of Switzerland was destroyed globally last year, and the rate of destruction increased, including in the Congo Basin, home to the biggest population of lowland gorillas. The FT’s Africa editor David Pilling met some of the scientists who study great apes in their habitat. Here’s some of what he saw.

David Pilling
We’re watching the mother and the baby (whispering) . . . (inaudible . . . 

You could probably catch the excitement in my voice. It’s quite an experience to be next to one of our closest relatives. I was actually less than 10m away (animals sounds). These creatures are huge and powerful. If you see the face of the mother, the resemblance to humans is absolutely extraordinary. Here in Nouabalé-Ndoki Park, there are about 4,000 lowland gorillas.

We’re walking through the undergrowth (whispering). Ahead of us, the gorilla is making . . . (inaudible)

Most are very hard to see, let alone observe for extended periods. Their instinct is to run from humans. Scientists solve that problem using a technique pioneered by Japanese researchers. They follow gorillas around for long periods of time, so the gorillas get used to them. The technique is known as habituation, and the people who’ve been key to this process are the ones who’ve lived in this forest for millennia: the Ba’Aka.

Mongambe
(Speaking in local language)

David Pilling
Mongambe is a Ba’Aka who helped habituate the first family of gorillas nearly 30 years ago.

Mongambe
(Speaking in local language) 

David Pilling
Mongambe says that before coming here, he thought gorillas were mean and dangerous. He said he was scared but couldn’t run away, or the gorilla would chase him and catch him by the leg. He’s telling me that the trackers named the silverback Kingo, “loud voice” in the Lingala language. Kingo was famous for acting aggressively, charging and even punching. He says that once he was bitten by a female gorilla.

Mongambe
(Speaking in local language) 

David Pilling
His task was to stick with the group for as long as it took for the gorilla not to see humans as a threat. All in all, it took three years. After that, several other groups followed, and scientists have been able to observe many more gorillas in their natural habitat.

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It was during a typical rainstorm that I met David Morgan.

David Morgan
I am a conservation scientist with Lincoln Park Zoo and Wildlife Conservation Society.

David Pilling
He’s been here since 1996, and not only for his own research. He’s helped nurture a new generation of Congolese scientists who’ve helped write scientific papers and expand their knowledge of these incredible creatures.

David Morgan
It’s been a great pleasure to see how local people have bought into the idea of conservation and protecting these forests. Because they now know the wildlife and the protection brings in jobs that can help keep these forests going and support their families. So communities are now a part of it.

David Pilling
Yes, and you’re almost tearing up now talking to me about this.

David Morgan
When you get to work with people that you’ve known since they were kids and now they’re conducting research out in this forest on great apes, that’s a special thing. So there’s an attachment to particularly apes here. It’s a charismatic species that, you know, we’ve targeted to help, you know, promote conservation. With tourism now that possibly gonna come in in the next couple of years, international tourism, there’s more jobs and more opportunities as well. So they’re starting to really appreciate that.

David Pilling
Morgan himself has done groundbreaking research. He recently co-wrote a paper on how chimpanzees and gorillas interact. It’s something scientists never knew could happen.

David Morgan
So western lowland gorillas were thought of very similar to mountain gorillas, but their diet in lowland tropical forests of Africa are much different. Fruit plays an important role in that. So they climb trees very similar to chimpanzees and in fact, they overlap dramatically with chimpanzees.

David Pilling
So from that you can hear how western scientists, along with Congolese scientists and the Ba’Aka, have been discovering more about the great apes that they’ve lived secretly and silently in these forests.

Josh Gabert-Doyon
Tomorrow, FT Africa editor David Pilling will take us to a clearing in the forest to hear the largest gathering of elephants in the world.

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Before we go, meme stock traders have spent nearly $200mn buying and selling shares in a worthless, bankrupt company. The American retailer Bed Bath & Beyond stock was delisted after it went bankrupt in May. But that hasn’t stopped its shares surging 300 per cent in over-the-counter trading. You can read the full story for free and for a limited period this summer, all the articles we highlight will be free to read for News Briefing listeners. Click the links in our show notes to enjoy more of the FT’s excellent international journalism with no paywall.

This has been your daily FT News Briefing. Make sure you check back tomorrow for the latest business news.

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