How Two Decades of Kwita Izina Transformed Rwandan Conservation

A ceremony inspired by the naming of newborn children has become one of Rwanda’s most visible tools for protecting mountain gorillas.

Kwita Izina means “to give a name” in Kinyarwanda. Families traditionally use the ceremony to welcome and name a newborn child. In 2005, Rwanda’s government formalized the ritual as an annual national event celebrating baby mountain gorillas born in Volcanoes National Park.

Over the next two decades, the ceremony grew from a local conservation initiative into an international example of community-led biodiversity restoration. Mountain gorillas had been pushed close to extinction by poaching, human encroachment and fragmented habitat. Their population across the Virunga Massif fell below 250 in the late 1970s and 1980s.

Today, more than 1,060 mountain gorillas live in the wild across the Virunga Massif and Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. They are described as the only great ape species whose wild population is steadily increasing. The recovery led the International Union for Conservation of Nature to reclassify the species from “Critically Endangered” to “Endangered.”

Naming has also strengthened research and protection. Since Kwita Izina began officially, 460 infant gorillas have received names rather than numbers. Researchers, veterinarians and rangers can use those identities to track family structures, health and population changes. The practice also helped turn individual gorillas into recognized members of Rwanda’s national heritage.

The program linked conservation to local economic interests. Communities near the park had faced crop damage while receiving little benefit from protected land, creating tensions and opportunities for poaching. Rwanda’s Tourism Revenue Sharing Scheme sends 10% of national park tourism revenue to communities bordering the parks. More than 23 billion Rwandan francs, or over $17 million, has funded nearly 1,300 projects, including schools, clean water networks, health clinics and agricultural cooperatives. Former poachers have also joined conservation work as rangers, trackers and porters.