Surfbirds News: BirdLife International Archives
A huge rainforest in one of Africa's poorest countries should today win indefinite government protection and is being heralded as one of the first examples of forest conservation to cut carbon emissions.
President Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone, is today expected to back plans to make the 75,000-hectare Gola Forest his country's second national park protecting more than 50 mammal species including Leopards, Chimps and Forest Elephants, 2,000 different plants and 274 bird species of which 14 are close to extinction.
The area, close to the Liberian border, will become the flagship site in a new national park network with local communities paid annually to replace royalties linked to logging and diamond mining in the forest.
White-necked Picathartes: an inhabitant of Gola forest, image kindly supplied by Birdlife International
The project is being funded by the European Commission, the French government, the RSPB and US-based Conservation International.
Alistair Gammell, International Director for the RSPB said: "In Sumatra, we are helping to rehabilitate the forest because most of it has been logged at some stage. Gola is different because much more of the area is primary rainforest and other areas have nog been logged for more than 30 years. Without this project, the forest would have been destroyed within ten years because Sierra Leone needs funds for its development."
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| Picathartes gymnocephalus (white-necked picathartes) |
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