LOS ANGELES/KIGALI — Each year in Rwanda's Volcanoes National Park, around 25 infant gorillas are named and celebrated in the Kwita Izina ceremony, modeled on the country's baby-naming tradition. The event, now in its 20th year, attracts world leaders, celebrities and wildlife champions, and the rangers, trackers, veterinarians and local communities who protect and care for Rwanda's gorilla population every day.
Naming gorillas gives them dignity, or agaciro, a Kinyarwanda concept that has underpinned Rwanda's development journey, including its approach to sustaining its natural economy. But the country's gorilla population — now growing at 3 percent per year — also has financial value. What if there were a way to pay these magnificent animals what they are worth?
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