By Lucas Meers | Conservation Program Officer
Despite the horrific and heartbeaking attack on the Okapi Conservation Project truck that resulted in seven lives lost, including one of our dedicated educators, Kalinda, we carry on the message of conservation in their honor. We are covering all healthcare costs and school fees for Kalinda's family to ensure they are able to move forward and that his children can continue their education.
We recently began construction on an agroforestry nursery in Wamba, just northwest of the Okapi Wildlife Reserve (OWR). This brings our total number of nurseries in and around the Reserve to five. Until now, the Wamba area was not served by our agroforestry program and as the funding and community interest became available for expansion, we capitalized on that motivation to better serve the community and reduce the slash-and-burn impacts on the critical rainforest that needs to be protected for okapi and other wildlife that share its habitat. Soon the nursery will be filled with seedlings to distribute in the area. This year, OCP has a goal of distributing a total of 60,000 from our five nurseries.
After meeting with Wamba officials in November, John Lukas was pleasantly surprised to hear the community actually wanted the Core Conservation Area that was created in the OWR in 2015 to be expanded closer to Wamba. The Core Conservation Area does not allow any human activity or presence to occur without proper permits from the government. If the area is expanded to Wamba, those rules would remain the same. The realization by the Wamba community wanting to expand the protected area shows they understand their community and families benefit more from a protected forest filled with spectacular biodiversity. This understanding of conservation is due in most part by strong, dedicated OCP educators like Kalinda.
We are only able to maintain a strong, resilient conservation presence in the Okapi Wildlife Reserve with your help. We thank you for your continued support.
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