Liberia makes gain on Sapo National Park
Officials at the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) in Liberia say the government has made significant achievement in its attempt to rid the Sapo National Park of illegal occupants and poachers.
The Park is Liberia’s only protected forest area situated in the largest remaining belt of the Upper Guinea Forest.
Residents of communities bordering it took refuge there at the peak of the war.
It was massively plundered as more people including aliens entered it following the cessation of hostilities.
But the Technical Manager for the Department of Conservation at the FDA Theophilus Freeman in an interview with WADR said the Emergency Response Unit of the Liberia National Police deployed in the protected forest have succeeded, to a large extent, in driving people out of the area.
He said: “A great damage had been done to the Park due to illegal mining activities, destruction to the biodiversity and the killing of protected animal species.”
Mr. Freeman, however, fell short of stating the degree of damage but added: “once the area is declared free and safe by the police, we will send in an environmental impact assessment team to ascertain the extent of destruction”.
The forester, meanwhile, says that even in the absence of the Park being declared safe, other vital activities were currently underway there including bio-monitoring and chimpanzee study programs.
By William Selmah, WADR Monrovia Correspondent (Edited by Harrison Akoh)
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