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Endangered Gorillas Get New Sanctuary in West Africa YOKOHAMA, Japan, December 13, 2001 (ENS) - One of the world's largest sanctuaries for lowland gorillas is being created in the west African coastal nations of Cameroon and Gabon. The governments of Japan, Switzerland and the United States have pledged funding to the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) for the newly protected area. The Minkebe/Mengame Transboundary Conservation Reserve will initally cover about 130,000 hectares (501 square miles) on the border between Cameroon and Gabon. It has the potential of being extended to about one million hectares (3,860 square miles). It will protect one of Africa's richest primate habitats and some 16 primate species - including the western lowland gorilla - from poaching and deforestation. With an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 western lowland gorillas remaining in the wild, the species is classified as endangered. The new reserve is also home to one of the most significant populations of elephants in Africa.
He congratulated the governments of Cameroon and Gabon for their leadership in seeking solutions to the linked issues of poverty and habitat destruction in their countries. The ITTO project will support the management and expansion of the Mengame Protected Forest Area on the Cameroon side of the border. A project has also been prepared on the Gabonese side of the border covering 850,000 hectares (3,281 square miles) of forest. This project, to be implemented jointly by the Wildlife Department of the Gabon Ministry of Water and Forests and the Worldwide Fund for Nature of Central Africa, will be considered for funding at the next session of the International Tropical Timber Council in May 2002. Speaking at the December 5 session of the International Tropical Timber Council, where the funds were pledged, senior Gabonese and Cameroonian officials said that transboundary conservation reserves are particularly important for their potential to restrict the trans-border illegal trade in timber and wildlife and pledged to work together to maintain the reserve. The ITTO is facilitating consultations between the governments of Cameroon, Gabon and Congo to establish another transboundary conservation reserve. This new reserve would also play a major role in protecting primate and other species. The International Tropical Timber Organization, created by treaty in 1983, is a commodity organization bringing together 57 member countries which produce and consume tropical timber to exchange information and develop policies on all aspects of the world tropical timber economy. The ITTO is sponsoring transboundary conservation areas covering nearly nine million hectares (34,740 square miles) spanning nine tropical countries in Africa, the Asia Pacific region, and Latin America and the Caribbean. Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2001. All rights reserved. |
