Liberia: 20,000 poor people log, mine and hunt in Sapo National Park

West Africa’s second-largest rainforest is under threat from illicit
mining and hunting according to one of Liberia’s top environmental
officials. More than 20,000 people are thought to be living illegally
in Liberia’s Sapo National Park. In a country were the United Nations
estimates some 85 percent of people are unemployed, Liberian officials
are working with donors to provide alternative sources of income for
people living in the park, including fish farming and ecotourism.

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“So it’s not a matter of moving security men to run after people in
the park. It’s about addressing some of the major concerns for which
people are now into the park,” Jerome Nyenkan said. As part of the
Upper Guinean rainforest ecosystem, Sapo is home to more than 700
kinds of animals including threatened species such as the African
Golden Cat, the Liberian Mongoose, and the White-necked Rockfowl.

The 1,800-square-kilometer preserve stretches from marshland near the
coast of southeast Sinoe County to the steep ridges of the Putu Mountains in the north. Years of civil war in Liberia drove many of the park’s rangers across the border into Ivory Coast as rebels looted their buildings and poached forest elephant and pygmy hippopotamus. But even with peace restored, Liberia’s only national park is still being plundered by illegal mining and hunting. “Sapo National Park is seriously threatened,” said Jerome Nyenkan, deputy executive director of Liberia’s Environmental Protection Agency.

“A whole group of West African nationals – Malians, Guineans, Nigerians, Sierra Leoneans, Ghanians are all in the park.” Nyenkan says park rangers lack the training or equipment to properly shield the park from outside encroachment. He estimates there are as many as 20,000 people living
inside the protected area cutting timber, fishing, grazing cattle, and clearing ground for planting. Many search for diamonds and pan for gold in the Sinoe River.

Map-article from: http://www.forestpartnersinternational.org/fpi-programs.html

“We’ve been in the park for a number of years now. We mine gold and diamonds. And some other minerals,” said Liberian Garpu Pajebo, who lives in the national park with his family. “We don’t have nowhere to go. And the government says they want to come and take us from the park. We are doing this business to bring up our future. And we need to live, so that is why we are doing this business.” The former rebel fighter says he moved to the park because he could not find a job elsewhere.

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