Save 2000 chimpanzees in West Africa

The Wild Chimpanzee Foundation (WCF) has been able to support some recent targeted law enforcement missions in the Proposed Grebo-Krahn National Park (new name since November 2015) in southeast Liberia, led by the national authorities: the Forestry Development Authority (FDA). During four missions, led by teams of 19 to 30 rangers, FDA was able to arrest 59 illegal settlers, while 22 poacher/mining/chewing stick camps were removed in this proposed national park. Additionally, a total of five shot-guns were confiscated along with eleven 12-shot-gun cartridges. Such important results to save endangered wildlife and biodiversity were only achievable thanks to the increased numbers of rangers that went on each mission. It is thanks to the support provided through GlobalGiving that FDA could send more rangers to lead these urgent law enforcement missions. Though we do not have enough long-term data yet, we have seen through previous missions led by FDA and WCF some encouraging results: Through community eco-guard patrols and awareness activities led in the communities, people were finally dissuaded encroaching on the forest of the proposed national park. Continued targeted law enforcement is required to keep FDA’s presence in this proposed national park and to prevent any persons from settling there. We very much hope to be able to enhance this much needed program with your help!

This year, we kick-started our activities by re-training our team of Community Eco-guards to support the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) in patrolling the new proposed Grebo-Krahn National Park (previously called Grebo-Forest National Park) in Liberia. The workshop helped the Community Eco-guards to refresh and refine their field skills, i.e. learning to navigate efficiently in the tropical forest, collecting data and planning patrols. Over 4 days, the WCF and FDA trainers taught lessons on animal species identification, methodology, navigation and equipment usage. This was then followed by a practical session to put what they had learnt into practice. After the training, the Community Eco-guards were tested to ensure they had taken on board all that was demonstrated over the 4 days. Now that they have completed the training, the Community Eco-guards are preparing for their first mission in the proposed national park. During the 2-week mission, the Community Eco-guards, supervised by FDA and WCF, patrol a minimum of 40 km across the national park, targeting known threatened areas with illegal human activities. They collect precise data on any threats to wildlife and forest they cross, such as gold-mining sites, bush-meat hunting tents, or illegal harvesting of forest products such as chewing sticks and then relay the information back to the local authorities, the FDA. FDA can then use this detailed data to lead targeted law enforcement missions in the future, which means they do not lose their time searching for the threats, but rather know prior to the mission where they have to aim for. This approach has proven to be very effective for the conservation of the proposed Grebo-Krahn National Park and is helping to protect the local wildlife. It also encourages the local communities to take an active role in the protection of the wildlife and their forest home. We hope that you will continue to support these efforts in protecting some of West Africa’s last tropical rainforest!