Subject: New protected areas in West and Southern Africa 

bioplan
"David Duthie" <David.Duthie@unep.org>

Dear BIOPLANNERS,

Two pieces of good news for protected areas in Africa, courtesy of Environmental News Service.

David Duthie
E-mail:  david.duthie@unep.org

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Safeguards for Largest West African Forest Considered

ABIDJAN, Cote d'Ivoire, October 4, 2001 (ENS) - West African forest
conservation won support today from the President of the Republic of Côte
d'Ivoire, the Ivory Coast.

In a meeting with representatives from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)
President Laurent Gbagbo said he would ask other West African leaders to
consider the issue of Guinean moist forest conservation as an agenda item
at the December summit meeting of ECOWAS, the Economic Community of West
African States.

The President of one of the most prosperous of the tropical African states,
Gbagbo said he would mobilize his ECOWAS peers towards a West Africa summit
on forest conservation.

The WWF delegation, headed by the regional representative for West Africa,
Souleymane Zeba, called on the President of Côte d'Ivoire Laurent Gbagbo,
to discuss tropical forest conservation issues in West Africa, the
environmental organization said today.

President Gbagbo expressed his appreciation of WWF's efforts in Taï
National Park with other conservation partners, and said he wanted to
become a WWF member.

He said he "was born in the heart of Guinean moist forests, witnessed its
degradation and its ensuing political, and socio-economic consequences on
my country and the sub-region over the last 40 years."

The Tai National Park, in southwest Côte d'Ivoire about 60 miles from the
coast, was internationally recognized as a Biosphere Reserve under UNESCO's
Man and the Biosphere Program in 1978 and inscribed on the World Heritage
List in 1982. Covering 1,275 square miles plus a small buffer zone, the
park adjoins another 280 square mile wildlife reserve.

The park is one of the last remaining portions of the vast primary forest
that once stretched across present day Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Liberia and
Sierra Leone, and is the largest island of forest remaining in West Africa.
Over 150 native species have been identified as unique to the Taï region.

Many species of rare primates and antelopes inhabit Tai National Park, but
only 100 elephants remain compared to some 1,800 in 1979. Species taken
include elephant for ivory, monkeys and antelopes for food and crocodile
and leopard for skins.

The principal problems are poaching, logging, farming and illegal
gold-mining. Insufficient funding has lead to inadequate training of
conservation personnel, equipment and research.

Encroachment by timber companies, which was previously most severe in the
north, has ceased, and forest is regenerating. But gold panners are still
in evidence.

As a first step towards their joint conservation efforts, President Gbagbo
asked WWF to prepare draft letters to be sent to the heads of state of the
Guinean Moist Forest Ecoregion, and appointed a liaison officer to
coordinate activities with WWF in this regard.

President Gbagbo assured the delegation that he will discuss the issue
further with the President of neighboring Ghana, John Kuffuor, during his
upcoming visit to Côte d'Ivoire in later this month.

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Mandela Uses Park Creation to Plead for Peace

PHALABORWA, South Africa, October 5, 2001 (ENS) - At the opening of an
enormous new trinational conservation area in southern Africa, former
President Nelson Mandela called on the people of the world to get rid of
the scourge of terrorism. At a ceremony Thursday he used the newly named
Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park as an example of lasting global peace.

The 35,000 square kilometre park is a cross-border game reserve between
South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Formerly known as the
Gaza-Kruger-Gonarezhou Park, it was officially renamed by the ministers of
environment of the three countries.

Mandela told an international gathering that the world could use the new
park as an example of how to improve relations between nations.

South African Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Valli Moosa said,
"These countries share a rich history. Our people have the same roots, we
have the same river, the Limpopo, giving life to the plant and animal
kingdoms in our countries."

An elephant translocation program is part of an environmental collaboration
between the three southern African nations. It will include land adjacent
to South Africa's Kruger National Park, other national parks, private game
reserves, hunting concession areas and community managed natural resource
areas.

There are 10,000 elephants in South Africa's Kruger Park, and 1,000 will be
moved to the Mozambique side of the new park over the next 30 months. The
first 40 elephants began their journey Thursday.

The 40 elephants, captured early on Thursday morning, were released into an
enclosure to acclimatize. After a day of settling down, the gates will be
opened and the elephants will be allowed to walk into their new range.

The elephants were captured by one of the world's top elephant capture
teams, based at Skukuza, in the Kruger National Park. They will be governed
by an international treaty which will be signed by the ministers of
environment from the three countries.

In the last three weeks the world had had reports of strife and conflict in
the United States of America, Mandela said. "We face the prospect of
conflict on a world scale. The peace park's initiative is an example,
though, of how to improve relations between nations."

Mandela said the park is part of Africa's success story. "The world can
learn from us how to use our natural heritage to the benefit of all."

Environmental Affairs Minister Valli Moosa told the gathering that "this
will truly be the world's greatest animal kingdom." Moosa formally handed
the herd to Mozambican Tourism Minister Fernando Sumbana.

The project is expected to generate important revenue from tourism when the
park is opened.

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