UNESCO World Heritage threatened by illicit logging

Conservationists trekking the Dja Wildlife Reserve in Cameroon are seeking ways to protect home chimpanzees, western lowland gorillas and forest elephants have noted that, this UNESCO world heritage is threatened by the bushmeat trade and illegal logging.

This trek featured a high conservation of great apes meeting on April 25 in Yaounde, organized by the African Wildlife Foundation.

The West and Central African conservationists embarked on a week long journey through the Dja Wildlife Reserve in Cameroon to determine the levels of biodiversity and the Human activity in this UNESCO World Heritage Site.

This 526,000-acre site is one of the most important rainforests and unspoiled Africa and supports population of chimpanzees in Central Africa, western lowland gorillas, forest elephants and other wild animals.

Surrounded by forest and mining concessions, settlements and agro-forestry areas, the reserve, and its inhabitants are increasingly threatened by bushmeat hunting and illegal logging.

"Although a World Heritage site, very little is known about what is at the center of the reserve," said Jef Dupain, Technical Director for West and Central Africa for the African Wildlife Foundation.

"This trek will help to dispel some of the mystery in Dja in order to gain a better understanding of how the reserve is accessible but illegally used by people," says Dupain.

"Given the poaching pressures, we do not know the density of wildlife in the reserve. We hear conflicting stories, some people say that there are many forest elephants while others tell us that the number of elephants have decreased significantly.

Now we have the chance to see with our own eyes. This African Apes Initiative, the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) works with the Conservation Service Dja reserve the managing authority, to improve the ecological monitoring and enforcement in the protected area.

Training and technology focused on data provided by the AWF accelerated planning patrols Dja, allowing rangers to maximize efficiency and effectiveness in the field.

Last year, the Rangers destroyed 200 hunting camps, 400 traps and confiscated 31 firearms, and arrested 35 poachers in the eastern part of the reserve.

However, this probably represents only a fraction of the overall problem of poaching for the bushmeat and ivory.

According to Roger Bruno Tabue Mbonda ecologist and resident, in Dja, despite the threats, Dja is a living laboratory that contains a variety of habitat types and some 300 plant species and over 100 species of mammals.

"Because of poaching and the destruction of natural habitat, some people today think that the reserve is an empty shell," says Tab Mbonda. "But thanks to ecological monitoring and anti-poaching supported technically and financially by the AWF, the service has been able to demonstrate the presence of several groups of gorillas, chimpanzees and elephants, which continue to perpetuate the ecological processes in this block forest."

Northbound trek is the first time that external conservationists will cross the Dja Faunal Reserve. At the same time, a second team of rangers and partners will undergo ecological monitoring training in the northern part of the reserve using rugged laptops installed with the CyberTracker software.

Great Apes Workshop Before the trek of the reserve, protected areas, conservationists and representatives of Cameroon, Senegal and the Democratic Republic of Congo will meet in Yaounde for a two-day workshop to facilitate partnership, communication and collaboration between large actors in the conservation of great apes.

The workshop, funded by the Arcus Foundation, is the second workshop to summon the protected area authorities, guards, NGOs and apes sites of researchers in Central and West Africa, after a first workshop held last year in Kinshasa.

"The learning and experience sharing between sites is essential to strengthen the conservation of the practice," said Annette Lanjouw, vice president of strategic initiatives and program ape Arcus Foundation.

"What is also important, is the development of a community of professionals, who know and trust each other and can ask for advice or input and which can collaborate on common challenges of conservation.

These workshops and field visits to develop a community among African environmentalists, and we believe it is essential for the future."

Stressing the importance of the workshop in Cameroon, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife chaired the two-day event, accompanied by other officials, including the Director of the Department of Wildlife and protected areas.