(Posted 26th August 2024)
Courtesy of African Elephant News / Stenews and Good Planet
Between the orange trunks of the acacia trees of the savannah, a herd of about twenty elephants, their skin browned by the pouring rain, advances peacefully in the Zah Soo national park, a protected area to combat poaching and pastoral pressure in the southwest of Chad.
“There are as many juveniles as adults,” rejoices Belfort Assia Blanga, section head of the Forest and Wildlife Guard (GFF), hands on his Kalashnikov slung over his shoulder: “the reproduction shows that they now feel safe.”
These words sound like a victory after the massacre of 113 of these pachyderms between 2013 and 2019. The park, in the heart of the Mayo-Kebbi West region, is now home to the third largest population in the country with 125 elephants.
All human presence is prohibited except for the discreet presence of the guards of this 815 km2 park born from a 15-year partnership between the government and the French biodiversity conservation NGO Noé. Supported by the French Development Agency (AFD) with 8 million euros until 2026, and by the European Union with more than 300,000 euros.
Since the deployment of the GFF, no elephant has been poached despite its lack of resources, “ammunition” and “used weapons”, according to Mr. Assia Blanga.
However, other species remain illegally hunted.
“Villagers and agropastoralists mainly target the sable antelope,” a species of antelope, laments Lambert Worgue Yemye, deputy director of the Binder-Léré protected areas complex.
Pastoralism
Beyond poaching, the guards are also fighting against pastoralism in the park. Cattle breeding is the main economic activity in Mayo-Kebbi West.
And the transhumance of large and small ruminants, from neighboring Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria, has a devastating impact on biodiversity in Zah Soo, according to Noé.
“The cattle graze on everything they can find without raising their heads,” says Lambert Worgue Yemye. “As they pass, they also destroy the flora by trampling it.”
Since last year, the park has been experimenting with the administrative impoundment of stray herds.
They are returned to the breeders after a fine. More than 2,600 heads have thus been taken to the eight pounds set up in the prefectures bordering the park.
Awareness-raising and repression have helped reduce their presence, going from 23,500 animals in September 2022 to 9,005 a year later, according to Noé.
But they have aroused the discontent of breeders.
“During the consultation before the creation of the park, we were presented with its advantages, but not its disadvantages,” accuses Saidou Alyoum, 36, a representative of the Mayo-Binder breeders. “The Zah Soo park extends beyond the boundaries of the Binder-Léré reserve in force for 50 years. We recommend to Noé and the State to reduce the park.”
In the absence of a compromise, the breeders are threatening to move to Cameroon.
No reduction in the park is possible, retorts Noé. “We had conducted a public consultation before its creation and the majority of signatories had validated its delimitation,” defends Lambert Worgue Yemye.
Compensation
“Some village chiefs who signed the documents then reverse their decision,” denounces a local authority, speaking on condition of anonymity, accusing them: “They are pushing the population to criticize the park, because some make foreign transhumant herders pay taxes to cross the territory.”
“The loss of pasture for herders has also increased conflicts between herders and farmers,” adds Mamadou Houssein, 60, head of the Tchofol II district in Binder.
Fighting between communities of sedentary farmers and nomadic herders, who roam and graze their herds on their land, regularly causes deaths, including women and children, in the four countries of this Sahelian region.
Mr Houssein says the protected elephant herds are also ravaging his crops. “It’s up to the government to compensate us, but it’s not doing anything,” he says.
“We would like the compensation to go directly through Noé, we have more confidence in them than in the Chadian state to resolve this problem,” the farmer demands.
Noah announces that in compensation for the lost pastures, she will provide fodder and plans to dig four first ponds for the livestock.
The NGO also carries out actions to improve the living conditions of villagers around the park, such as the rehabilitation of a water tower in Binder or the repair of roads.
It is also banking on the development of sustainable income-generating sectors with initial projects in beekeeping and soap oil extraction. But Noé’s bet to eventually develop the tourist appeal of Mayo-Kebbi West, thanks to Zah Soo, is still uncertain in this region plagued by insecurity.
