Biodiversity conservation in North Cameroon

Biodiversity conservation in North Cameroon

Bénoué National Park (BeNP) is one of Africa’s Key Landscapes for Conservation (KLC) in the EU’s 2015 ‘Larger than Elephants’ strategy. It is home to 23 ungulate species, including the Critically Endangered sub-species of giraffe: the Kordofan giraffe. Numbering <2,000 in the wild, the larger Bénoué landscape represents one of its few remaining strongholds. However, the park is being rapidly degraded by the activities of illegal gold miners, charcoal production, illegal hunting and encroachment from cattle herders. There is now an urgent concern that other large mammals like giraffe and giant eland may be extirpated from the park unless immediate intervention occurs. This project aims to improve the conservation outlook for giraffe and other mammals of conservation concern in this area by 1) increasing the patrol frequency, effectiveness and range and 2) generating baselines of target species abundances and distributions, which informs the parks management.

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