By Dervla Dowd | Project Leader WCF Liberia
In recent months, the WCF has been able to continue to support the Liberian and Ivorian authorities in enforcing the law in some of the world’s most important tropical rainforests, in the heart of the Upper Guinean Forest Ecosystem, a biodiversity hotspot. The funds raised from supporters of the Global Giving Initiative have provided the means to maintain a much-needed presence of forest rangers inside both the Taï National Park in Ivory Coast and the Proposed Grebo National Park in Liberia.
In Proposed Grebo National Park, our community eco-guard teams have so far managed in 2014 to cover of 300 km of patrols, along which they have noted observations of anthropogenic activities, such as farms and hunting tents, and also direct observation of keystone species such as wild chimpanzees and elephants. This is the first time Proposed Grebo National Park has had a law enforcement program in action and it has so far proved extremely efficient and helpful. The first set of data will help us pinpoint key areas of threats, where the park authorities (Forestry Development Authority - FDA) will target their next law enforcement missions and awareness raising programs in nearby communities. Key areas so far noted are “chewing stick” camps, used by permanent settlers who are degrading the forest to extract a species of tree, used for traditional medicine purposes. In response to this, the FDA currently plans a large awareness and joint law enforcement mission.
The mobile law enforcement brigade of the Taï National Park in Ivory Coast has also continued to systematically patrol in the park. In May and June 2014, officers from the “brigade mobile” conducted 17 patrols in all areas of the park, making a total effort of 1085 man/days. The patrols resulted in 35 arrests (2 poachers, 4 fishers, 23 miners and 6 farmers). 10 animal carcasses were found with the poachers (6 duikers and 4 monkeys) set for the bush-meat market and were confiscated by the rangers. During their patrols, 98 signs of illegal activities were recorded, most of which are empty gun shells and some traps. All traps are destroyed during the patrols.
The presence of rangers is essential in protecting the wonderful wildlife of Taï National Park and Proposed Grebo National Park!
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
