Protecting the rainForest

The Park Protection programme is intended to control illegal and damaging activities within the National Park. The activities of this programme principally relate to the implementation of patrols in the national park by teams of highly trained and well-equipped rangers.

These patrols are tasked with enforcing the laws that govern the national park through detecting, recording, and deterring rule-breaking, and by facilitating the rehabilitation or discipline of offenders. The patrols are planned strategically to achieve good overall coverage and to address specific threats, as identified from previous patrol data or through intelligence received from forest edge communities.

Threats

The primary driver of deforestation in the project zone is the conversion of forest into the bushfallow cycle for subsistence agriculture. Forest degradation occurs in the leakage belt of the project zone via selective logging activities and artisanal mining, but degradation from such activities in the national park has been successfully prevented since forest rangers began patrolling there in 2004.

In West and Central Africa, bushmeat hunting is known to be one of the most important threats to primate and duiker populations. Many of the primates and duikers in the project zone are targeted by hunters. In a 2012 survey on bushmeat markets in the wider Gola area, six species of high conservation concern were found including three Endangered species; Western Red Colobus, Western Chimpanzee and the Pygmy Hippo and three vulnerable species; the Sooty Mangabey, Black and White Colobus and the Diana Monkey. Pangolins are also known to be exploited for bushmeat as well as the sale of their scales. Some of the bird species are also susceptible to hunting; the Vulnerable White-breasted Guineafowl is a terrestrial species and is sometimes caught in snares. Some species are also kept as pets, for example Timneh Parrot or Chimpanzees.

SMart Patrols

To bolster their efforts, GRC has embraced the use of the cutting-edge SMART (Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool) software. SMART's real-time monitoring and data-driven decision-making capabilities have enabled rangers’ patrols to become more efficient and effective. Crucial hotspots of illegal activities are swiftly identified, directing the rangers’ focus where it matters most. Each patrol becomes a crucial piece in the puzzle of conservation, as SMART accumulates data from across the landscape. This wealth of information not only guides current efforts but also serves as a foundation for long-term impact assessment, showcasing the effectiveness of conservation strategies over time.