KIGALI, Rwanda (PAMACC News) - The involvement of local communities in forest conservation actions at all levels is key to the success of conservation and sustainable use of wildlife resources in the Central African region, experts say.

According to African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), engaging local communities in natural resource management enhances conservation activities including the fight against poaching and wildlife trafficking.

“The local forest communities are key drivers to the fight against illegal and wildlife trafficking and thus the need to empower them in readiness to conservation challenges,” says Manfred Epanda, AWF Coordinator in Cameroon.

In a paper presented at a side event at the Congo Basin Forest Partnership meeting in Kigali November 22, 2016, Epanda emphasised on the need to adequately sensitise and educate the local population on the importance of conservation to their wellbeing.

“Studies by the AWF has shown the direct relationship between the level of education of the population and attitudes towards conservation,” he said.

According to the studies, the involvement of the local people in the conservation process will enhance conservation by some 11.40 percent, pointing out much resources including wildlife and money can be saved by improving the attitude and knowledge of local people towards conservation.

Experts agree there is a direct relationship between the natural resource potential of a region and the socio-economic wellbeing of the population who rely on these resources for cash and subsistence income.

“The local populations directly rely on their natural resources for survival, but the exploitation of these resources must be done sustainably,” says Richard Eba’a Atyi of CIFOR.

“We do not discourage hunting by the local population as a source of food. The law is against hunting in protected areas and hunting for commercial purposes. This is what the AWF and other partners are against,” says Jef Dupain, Regional Director West Africa, AWF.

Conservation experts also called for reinforcement of wildlife trafficking laws in the Congo Basin forest region to curb increasing illegal poaching activities, especially in protected areas.

Manfred Epanda cited the case of the Dja Faunal Reserve in Cameroon known to be ivory trafficking hotspots, necessitating the reinforcement of the wildlife law and continuous education and involvement of the local population in the protection process.

“ The co-management of protected areas with the local people permit for mastery of the local reality like culture, language, people and provide the opportunity for the population to identify with the project,” he said.

The Dja Faunal Reserve he explained is a UNESCO world heritage site that is facing significant challenges although numerous conservation initiatives are presently ongoing in and around the reserve.

Unfortunately, it attracts the attention of traffickers because it is one of the last remaining refuges for wild apes and many other endangered species in the region, Epanda explained.

Chimpanzees are totally protected wildlife species by the 1994 wildlife law, which stipulates that anyone found in possession of parts of a protected wildlife species, is considered to have killed the animal experts said. The aim is to protect animals like the chimpanzee that are facing serious threats from poaching.

 In Cameroon for example according to statistic, some 32 chimpanzee skulls have been seized since the beginning of 2016 during operations carried out under the framework of the wildlife law enforcement initiative started by the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife (MINFOF) in 2003 to effectively enforce the laws.

MINFOF has since been working hard to ensure that those involved with the slaughter and sale of chimpanzee parts are prosecuted because their acts infringe the wildlife law, experts said.

KIGALI, Rwanda (PAMACC News) - It is time to face the fact that the Congo Basin forests will increasingly be threatened as development needs of member countries surges if urgent measures are not put in place to harmonise development challenges and conservation, experts have warned.

The Congo Basin forest which holds more than 25 billion tons of carbon and thousands of animal and plant species is today impacted directly and indirectly by industrialisation, with palm oil plantations taking the lead.

“We need to step out of the conservation box and work with the different stakeholders to balance environmental needs with socioeconomic requirements,” pointed out Jef Dupain, Regional Director, Central and Western Africa at the African Wildlife Foundation.

Speaking at a panel discussion on industrial agriculture and Apes Conservation at the Congo Basin Forest Partnership meeting in Kigali, experts agreed there was a need to guide development actions and encourage best practices for sustainable resource conservation.

“The expansion of industrial palm oil plantations into the habitat of endangered animal species like apes in the Congo Basin forest area has become evident,” said Bas Verhage of WWF citing the case of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The discussions were held against the backdrop of the publication of the second volume of the book “State of the Apes: Industrial Agriculture and Ape Conservation,” by Arcus Foundation.

The book accordingly examines the interface between ape conservation and industrial agriculture in the Congo Basin and West Africa and notes that Ape habitats like that of other species in sub-Saharan Africa are seriously threatened. It more specifically explores the drivers behind the agricultural expansion and addresses ways to minimize and mitigate its impact on biodiversity.

In Cameroon for example, the Dja forest reserve in the South of the country is seriously under threats from an expanding rubber plantation just like the Ebo forest in the Littoral region is facing challenges from growing palms plantation.

The case of some 142,000-hectare Ebo forest that sits less than 150 kilometers from the capital of Cameroon, Yaounde and even closer to Douala, both cities with populations of over 2 million, is seriously under threat. Like Korup National Park and the Dja Reserve, Ebo is also home to a wide variety of wildlife, including the rare Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee and the drill (Mandrillus leucophaeus), a highly endangered baboon-like monkey that, until the 1980s, scientists had written off as extinct.

The conservation actors at the panel discussion called for an integrated cross-sector approach to national management that factor in development and conservation needs through building bridges and linkages between protected areas, spaces designed for production, infrastructure and mining activity.

“There is an urgent need to work towards reconciling the conservation and development visions so as to optimise land use. The concept of protecting of Congo Basin should also include opportunities for development and job creation.  Conservation and development are closely linked rather than conflicting concepts. Thus conservation projects should be tailored and harnessed to provide solutions to development and employment challenges,” says Andreas Athanas, Program Design Director, AWF, in an interview.

Experts agree transparency must be the watchword in the conservation and forest management industry in coming years to bolster and foster trust among stakeholders.

“There is a need to build a permanent platform for inclusive dialogue between the States, the private sector and other actors to create an enabling environment and ensure transparency,” Athanas said.

KIGALI, Rwanda (PAMACC News) Conservation experts at the 2016 Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP) conference have called on the private sector to play a leading role in protection and sustainable management of forests and the entire biodiversity in the Central Africa region.

Speaking on the first day of the conference, Andrea Athanas, Program Design Director at the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) said that with the growing population amid the changing climatic conditions, people continue to invest so as to improve production and create space for settlement, thus putting pressure on wildlife habitats.

“Massive investments are coming in this region that has put pressure on land and water resources, and this has huge implications on wildlife in particular,” Athanas said. “We need to sit with the private sector and engage in constructive solution creation,” she added.

So far, it has been observed that with over 500 delegates attending the 16thgeneral assembly of CBFP, the private sector is minimally represented with only companies in eco-tourism and forest sector in attendance.

Jef Dupain, Regional Director, Central and Western Africa at the AWF also underlined the importance of bringing on board the private sector, because, many times the private sector is willing to participate in conservation but, often, they do not understand well the roles they can play because of lack of information.

It is believed that the private sector can reinforce the conservation of wildlife resources and habitat, while re-investments in communities can enable those societies live side by side with wildlife and have economic opportunities through access to value chain and achieve economic growth.

According to Athanas, AWF is already working with the private sector in landscapes where the organisation operates in sectors of palm oil production, mining, dam and road construction among others.

This, said Athanas, has created space for the companies to move in a way that is compatible with wildlife conservation.

The experts meeting at the CBFP seeks to create groupings that will include international NGO’s, development partners, private sector, government and local community based organisations with representatives to meet in a council.

The 5-day meeting is expected to produce concrete outputs of direct relevance and value to CBFP members and practitioners in the field as well as key recommendations addressed to policymakers on a limited and well-focused set of crucial issues.

KIGALI, Rwanda (PAMACC News) - The 16th Meeting of Parties of the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP) kicks off in Kigali, Rwanda on November 21, with over 500 delegates from governments, organisations – both the public and private sectors, representatives from civil society and the academic and scientific community looking forward to developing policies and other means of dealing with the challenges facing the Congo Basin forests.

Other issues to be discussed include land use planning, conservation and sustainable use of wildlife resources, including the fight against wildlife trafficking, climate change, sustainable economic development and private sector knowledge-based decision-making among others.

So far, Heads of State and Government of the Congo Basin countries have confirmed their commitment to the principles of conservation of the biodiversity and the sustainable management of Central African forest ecosystems, the fundamental rights of their populations to benefit from forest resources and the imperative to reconcile development needs with conservation within the framework of international cooperation.

The Kigali conference comes at a time when the Congo Basin forests are facing challenges of growing complexity and gravity.

However, the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) points out that in the recent past, there has been substantial progress in conservation activities within the basin. The organization works in four priority landscapes in the CBFP which include Maringa-Lopori-Wamba and Bili Uele landscapes in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Dja Fauna Reserve and Campo Ma’an Park in Cameroon.

The Congo Basin Forest covers approximately 180 million hectares and accounts for 30% of plant cover on the African continent, and 19% of the world’s tropical rainforests according to statistics from the African Forest Fotum.

The Basin accordingly hosts significant biodiversity and provides key habitat to some of Africa’s most unique and threatened wildlife, including the forest elephant, okapi, and four great ape species: bonobo, chimpanzee, eastern gorilla and western gorilla. It hosts approximately 10,000 plant, 1000 bird, 400 mammal, and 700 fish species, many of which are unique to the Basin.

 Currently, CBFP comprises more than eighty African  and  international  partner countries  and organisations  from both the public and private sectors as well as from civil society and the academic and scientific community. It is the most comprehensive regional platform dealing with the challenges facing the Congo Basin forests.

Cooperation within CBFP accordingly, aims to support the shared vision of the Central African Heads of State, notably, improving measures taken, including technical and financial support measures, to promote the conservation of biodiversity and the sustainable management of forest ecosystems, to combat climate change and to alleviate poverty in Central African countries in line with the COMIFAC Convergence Plan.