Eco-Tourism Program In Côte d’Ivoire Could Save Chimpanzees of Taï
Tai National Park in Cote d’Ivoire recently launched an eco-tourism program intended to protect the country’s chimpanzees from further decline. Decades of environmental destruction have ravaged chimp habitats, but a new partnership between the Ivorian government and Wild Africa’s Wild Chimpanzee Foundation hopes to stop it.
Over the last 20 years, chimpanzees have experienced a 90% decline in population worldwide, with the total number currently under 200,000. The local population in Cote d’Ivoire is between 8,000 and 12,000, according to a study by Wild Africa’s Wild Chimpanzee Foundation in 2008.
Environmental degradation was exacerbated by violence that occurred after the 2010-11 election, which killed more than 3,000 people. The park is nestled in the western region of the country, where some of the worst fighting took place. Additional damage has come from human encroachment, such as the planting of cocoa fields over the former dense vegetation at the edge of the park.
Scientists in the park spent decades habituating the chimpanzees to humans so they could study them, and now the animals are fairly docile around visitors. The Ivorian government, along with conservationists, decided to take advantage of this by starting the eco-tourism program.
Conservationists are particularly excited about one of the tours, which lasts three days and includes a forest hike up 554-foot Mount Nienokoue. Other features of the program include “nature clubs” where volunteers teach children about the local forests, a snail farm providing an alternative to bush meat, and volunteer observation squads.
Christopher Boesch, director of WCF, said he is hopeful about the new projects. “Through eco-tourism, local people gain something,” he said. “They see the value of the forest . . . and they will preserve it.”
Eco-Tourism Program In Côte d'Ivoire Could Save Chimpanzees
https://afktravel.com/57046/eco-tourism-program-in-cote-divoire-could-save-chimpanzees/
Posted on AFKtravel.com on June 27, 2014 by Joe Kennedy
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