The Agreement on the Conservation of Gorillas and Their Habitats, also known as the Gorilla Agreement, is a multilateral environmental agreement that binds the parties to conserve gorillas in their territories. It was concluded 2007 under the auspices of the Convention on Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), also known as the "Bonn Convention", with scientific support from the Royal Belgian Institute for Natural Sciences and GRASP. The Gorilla Agreement covers 10 range states (Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Nigeria, Rwanda and Uganda) and entered into force in June 2008. Development of the Agreement To implement the decision of the conference of the parties of CMS to list the gorilla on Appendix I of the convention and taking into consideration the unfavourable conservation status and the conviction that the gorilla would significantly benefit from international cooperation that could be achieved by a multilateral agreement, an Article IV Agreement was concluded in 2007. The text of this legally binding agreement was negotiated on a meeting in Paris between 22 and 26 October 2007, under the auspices of CMS and attended by nine of the ten gorilla range states. The final act was signed on 24 October 2007 and entered into force on 1 June 2008, after ratification by three range states. As of August 2012, the Gorilla Agreement has six parties. Signatures without reservation: Central African Republic (26 October 2007) Republic of the Congo (26 October 2007) Nigeria (5 March 2008) Democratic Republic of the Congo (25 April 2008) Rwanda (25 September 2008) Gabon (1 November 2008) Aim of the agreement The overall aim of the Gorilla Agreement is to provide a framework for the conservation of gorillas and their habitats and to establish the legal structure necessary to make all the initiatives durable and to integrate conservation actions in collaboration with the ten range states. This should be reached by conserving and restoring the highly threatened gorilla populations in Central and West Africa through an action plan, covering education, research and forest protection. Species covered All taxa of gorillas are covered by the Agreement: Western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) Cross River gorilla (Gorilla gorilla diehli) Eastern lowland gorilla (Gorilla beringei graueri) Mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei) Fundamental components Preamble In the preamble the parties refer to the listing of all taxa of gorillas on Appendix I of the CMS