• Despite the civil conflict in Rwanda and although many aid workers leave the region, IGCP personnel remain to protect Virunga mountain gorillas; no gorillas are killed in 1996, and at least nine babies are born in Rwanda alone.
  • AWF establishes its first Conservation Service Center in Arusha, Tanzania, and hires a team of African professionals to begin helping communities that live near wildlife to benefit from their natural resources.
  • The Charlotte Conservation Fellowship Program, honoring long-time AWF supporter Charlotte Kidder Ramsay, is established to provide scholarships for African conservation students to pursue masters and doctoral degrees.