Ancient Forest Guardians (AFG) is raising funds to employ 4 teams comprised of 5 Ba'aka Community Rangers each for 1 year in a 72,000ha concession of the Dzanga-Sangha Special Reserve in the Central African Republic. The teams will be responsible for the removal and reporting of snares, intervention of excessive tree felling, and community sensitisation to the programme, its goals and methods.
What is the cost of the programme?
The total cost of the programme is GBP 20,520 per year.
The monthly cost breakdown is salaries of 20 pax (5 people in 4 teams) – GBP 1288 (each person is paid 2500CFA per day for 20 days/month, totalling 1 million CFA per month) and food costs – GBP 422. The total monthly cost comes to GBP 1710.
What is the benefit of the programme?
The concession is within the Dzanga Sanga Special Reserve, a conservation zone in which people live and depend on the use of the forest.
The employment of the Ba'aka team lessens the dependency on the forest of up to 20 families. Addressing the issue of snaring and hunting for commercial purposes reduces pressure on the forest as well as prevents injuries to and inhumane deaths of animals such as pangolins, duikers and forest elephants.
The Ba'aka Community Ranger Programme holistically addresses issues of biodiversity, forest regeneration, wildlife protection, carbon sequestration, and empowerment of indigenous communities, which are all interconnected.
Our ambition is to create a model for what is possible in a relatively small area of moist forest working in collaboration with the local community of the Dzanga Sangha Protected Area.
Who will run the programme?
The programme will be run by Sangha Lodge.
AFG has a strong partnership with Sangha Lodge and the Sangha Pangolin Project who have been protecting this former hunting concession for over 10 years now. Local employment opportunities have been created through eco-tourism activities as well as pangolin research and rehabilitation.
Where is the programme located?
Our local partners, Sangha Lodge, currently have a 20 year lease (from Nov 2018- Oct 2038) of a 72,000ha concession which the funding will go to protecting. The 72,000ha concession forms part of the buffer zone north of the Dzanga-Ndoki National Park, part of the Sangha Tri National forest landscape that spreads across the Republic of Congo, Central African Republic and Cameroon. Buffer zones are critical for adding a level of protection to National Parks, helping maintain the relationship between human populations and the forest flora and fauna.