Strengthening Indigenous and Modern Conservation Practices for Flagship Species
In August 2016, Agrointroductions Ghana received grant funding from New England Biolabs Foundation to implement the ‘Strengthening Indigenous and Modern Conservation Practices for Flagship Species: Insights from Boabeng Fiema Monkey Sanctuary’ project.
Boabeng-Fiema Monkey Sanctuary (BFMS) is one of the community-based ecotourism sites in Ghana protecting the resident black and white Colobus, (Colobus vellerosus), and Mona monkeys (Cercopithecus campbelli) which are important to the local peoples’ cultural beliefs. The BFMS is Ghana’s most distinguished example of Traditional African Conservation. For more than 150 years, the people of Boabeng and Fiema have considered the monkeys sacred and as such revere their presence. BFMS until recently enjoyed technical support from the Ghana Wildlife Division. The Division has currently withdrawn its technical assistance from the sanctuary even though the combination of state laws and indigenous management appeared to be effective in managing the site. The recent shortcoming in support has led to weak ecological monitoring at the sanctuary as well as other rising undesirable anthropogenic activities that threaten the sanctuary. Given the importance of bio-monitoring activities for effective planning, co-management, and education on-site, it is the intent of this project to train and build the capacity of some community members to be able to carry out their own bio-monitoring activities. Through this project we also seek to assess and restore degraded core habitats and mount grass-root education using indigenous and/or modern conservation protocols in fringed communities and target groups to raise support for the sanctuary.
Project Duration: 12 months
Project start: September 2016
Project end: August 2017
Project partners: Department of Wildlife and Range Management, KNUST. Wildlife Division, Forestry Commission
